The agony of freedom
by Masterdude21
Summary: Sometimes it seems life is just one big nightmare. The Grimm not always being the real monsters. Child soldiers being her team's most dependable allies. The Kingdoms with their lies, their wars and shattered, sacred laws. But the nightmare is just beginning. Suddenly, simple extinction doesn't seem like the worst outcome anymore. -dark RWBY AU, contains realistic OC's and lemons.
1. Chapter 1

" _The Schnee Dust Company has been wantonly placing kill-orders on Faunus individuals suspected of having ties with the White Fang. All contacted PMC's and other groups required for those hits have been neutralized, shut down or otherwise impaired. Their actions are straining the already-weak relationship between humanity and Faunus-kind. Their actions will cause war. A hit has been prepared to avoid that outcome."_

 _\- Executive order [DATA DELETED]_

* * *

 **Location established. Timelink established. Beacon Academy medical bay, 20:16**

She was back in the house again, back before it had burned to the ground. Everything was still intact, even the little pieces of art that hung at the wall behind the living room. There were lights illuminating the house, bathing the wooden interior in a pleasant, yellow glow.

Why was she here? How had this happened? It was supposed to be just another small mission, not…not this.

And her mother was there too. Her long, messy hair flowed loosely down her back and her dark clothes had a welcoming tint to them. "Yang!" she said, looking up at her daughter with a happy expression. She looked so genuine. So real. "You're back!"

Yang backed away, slowly shaking her head. There were things she wanted to say…things she wanted to do. She wasn't supposed to be here, she wasn't supposed to be like this! "Hey mommy."

"Come on, I want to show you something." Her mother turned around to show her the way, revealing the black feathers she had adorned her hair with this evening.

She wanted to shout at the woman. Demand why she had done what she had done, anything but a simple greeting. Why? Why had she said that? Why couldn't she do what she needed to do?

Yang looked down at her own body and, much to her dismay, saw that she was a small child. Her hair was shorter, her clothes a bit too large to fit her. Little children weren't supposed to be angry.

And then it changed. The light turned dark, the air grew chilly and thick, pressing down on Yang's heart like a thick, smothering carpet. Her face hurt…and she knew why.

Yang carefully touched her cheek, which was burned and ached. Her tiny body lay on the ground, while her mother sat in the corner, crying. Just like that, all that malice and anger had turned into sorrow and guilt.

It was just like before. Like all the times before. But this time, it was different. The floor was on fire. Smoke, dense and filthy, rose up from the burning wood and slowly started to gather in the room.

Yang screamed and the walls exploded into fire as well. Her mother did not move.

"Yang?"

Something drove her to get up and move –to get away from the exploding fire and all-consuming heat. She staggered through the thick screen of smoke, but the flames did not hurt her. Pieces of her clothes caught alight, but she did not feel the touch of the fire-

"Yang!"

The entire house was burning now; the front door simply broke apart underneath her hands and she fell outside, where the cold air of the night rushed to meet her face. There were creatures standing there, with hides that were as black as the night. They stood upright like real people and their faces were reflective visors in which she could see her own, blood-red eyes-

Yang woke with a start and jumped upright, her fists ready to strike. It took her a few moments to catch her breath though. "Wha…what?"

It wasn't mother. Weiss stood in front of her with a skeptical expression, with white hair and clothes. No feathers. She had her hands on her hips and she did look rather irritated though. "Finally awake?"

Blinking a few times, Yang replied, "Y-yeah, sure. What's up?"

"Ruby's awake!"

"Ruby…?" Yang looked over at her sister, who shyly waved at her from underneath her white blankets. Freaking finally, it had been hours! "Ruby!" She banished the feelings of hate and pain and rushed to her sister's side at once.

"We didn't want to startle you," Blake said from the other side of the medical bay. "Were you dreaming?"

"No," Yang replied. She gently reached Ruby's shoulder and lifted the bandages, inspecting the wound underneath. "Or maybe. I don't remember."

"Hmm…" Blake didn't further inquire on the subject, but she didn't look completely convinced.

It had been a few hours since they had returned to Beacon and, following their fight, they had been deported straight towards the medical bay. It seemed that the little redhead had really needed her rest.

"Ouch!" Ruby gave a yelp of pain as Yang rubbed some disinfectant on the wound in her shoulder. "Careful, that hurts!"

Yang quickly pulled the bottle away, but she wasn't done with it yet. "Sorry." Even though it was important, she could at least try to take it easy. Ruby had been through a lot lately and she didn't want to force things. With what had happened still being left unspoken, it was only a matter of time anyway.

"You know what will hurt more?" Weiss angrily said, sitting at Ruby's bed with her arms crossed over her chest. "A nasty infection because you neglected to clean it. Yang, continue."

Ruby grumbled and reluctantly allowed Yang to continue treating her. Medical personnel had left the bay after they had determined Ruby's wound to be superficial. Her Aura was perfectly capable of healing the muscle-damage and all that was left was to keep it from growing nasty. A responsibility that Ruby _should_ be capable of holding.

Of course, Yang was nowhere near ready to accept that. It wasn't every day you were stabbed in the shoulder like that, especially not for a fifteen-year-old. Well, almost sixteen, but still. "I still can't believe he broke your Myrtenaster."

Weiss scowled and looked away. "Thank you for reminding me. I did not think he would stab Ruby either."

"Guys," Ruby muttered.

"Well, to be fair, she stabbed him first," Blake dryly remarked. A book lay by her side, unopened. She had brought it with her to kill the time during their medical check-up, but Yang didn't think she had actually opened it.

"Guys?"

"Can we please not talk about who stabbed who?" Yang loudly demanded, using a piece of bandage to clean Ruby's exposed wound and another one to bind it again. "This is bad enough as it is!"

"Guys!" Ruby interrupted, her small frame nearly tremoring with pent-up emotions. "Can you just quit arguing for a few moments?"

The three of them grew quiet as they stared at their leader. A few hours of sleep and now Ruby was ready to take action again, it seemed.

"Ruby?"

"Myrtenaster can be repaired. My wound will heal. But right now, we need to focus on the bigger picture." She looked as determined as when she was making plans to take on giant Grimm, organized crime or friends running amok. "He was supposed to abandon Beacon to find and murder General James Ironwood."

It was just so complicated.

"Ironwood wasn't there," Blake said. She glanced at Ruby with a concerned expression, before adding, "Nobody was there…except for the voices in his head, I guess."

"That's not true," Yang started to protest, but her voice already broke off halfway. The truth…what was true? Had he truly lost his mind, went crazy and ran off to get himself killed? Was he still suicidal? No, that couldn't be. They had…they had solved that.

Hadn't they?

"We can't be sure," Ruby said. "First things first. The General was not there, but he was supposed to be the target. If he wasn't there, there are two options left. The first?"

Weiss sighed. "Theoretically, that would suggest that General Ironwood was not the target."

"Right. The second?"

"Ironwood knew that a hit was coming and fled," Blake then added. Compared to Yang and Weiss, she had suffered the least during the fight. Minor lacerations and a nasty bruise, but her ribs were still intact and her lungs completely undamaged.

Yang could think of multiple reasons why both options were false, but she kept her thoughts for herself. She trusted that Ruby's judgement was intact.

"But that won't work, because…"

"Because that place wasn't an Atlas structure," Yang replied. She was the only one who was standing, but not because the others were too hurt to do so. She always grew uncomfortable when she sat down during important arguments or problems –it just made her feel restless and frustrated. Standing worked the best. "Strange machines, nasty technology, several dead bodies…"

"And let's not forget the obvious style that we know so well," Weiss then sneered. "Black and metallic. For an organization with unlimited resources and equipment, they sure lack creativity and subtleness."

"What's wrong with black?" Blake then asked.

"Nothing's wrong with black on occasion Blake," Ruby said with a small smile. "But when your clothes, your weapons and the interior of your rooms are all black, something is wrong."

"Right then," the Faunus replied with a small hint of annoyance. "Continue."

Ruby scraped her throat. "Ehm…yes…not an Atlas building, corpses that were badly composed…not Ironwood…I'm missing something. What am I missing?"

"Apart from a functioning shoulder?" Weiss suggested. "How about the fact that the place was empty? Completely devoid of people, weapons, files and information? Or the fact that the facility was suffering from uncontrolled plant growth for at least months?"

Wow…Weiss sounded really pissed off. At Ruby, no less. That was…odd. Ruby hadn't broken her rapier, Ruby hadn't caused her to be injured and Ruby hadn't allowed their target to slip past them.

Yang; wasn't very certain about that. One thing she did know: Ruby had gotten hurt. Knowing Weiss's ways of thinking…was the Heiress pissed because of worry? Upset that Ruby could have gotten hurt worse than just stab-wound in her shoulder? If that was the case, the two of them were very much alike in that aspect. Big-sister instinct and all that.

"That is true," Blake verified. "The facility was abandoned and there was no sign of any clear goals. Again, mental damage."

Ruby stared at her for a few seconds. When she next spoke, her voice was less certain than before. "Moving on…team CFVY. What were their injuries again?"

Yang reached for her scroll and opened the dossier again. "Wait one, I got it right here." Team RWBY hadn't been the first team to be deployed against him. Just a day ago, Headmaster Ozpin had sent team CFVY to intercept and capture the idiot. The results had been…mixed. She had expected no less from her little soldier when she had heard the news, but those who did not truly know him…boy those people had to have been upset. Coco's team wasn't exactly a team of pushovers.

"Velvet was fine, right?" Blake asked.

"There's a big line between fine and conscious," Ruby said. "That she was still aware of people prodding her with needles doesn't really mean that she was fine."

"Velvet had a dislocated shoulder and several bruises," Yang said.

The team grew silent for a few moments, before Weiss carefully said, "So she was fine after all?"

"Well, considering who she went up against…yep. Velvet's fine."

Yang chuckled. "Coco had it the worst, followed by Fox and Yatsuhashi." Badass as they might be, she was not the biggest fan of team CFVY. She liked Velvet, but Miss Adel had a special case of head-lodged-up-arse syndrome. Arrogant, cruel and pretty much blind to dangers. "She's gonna need new sunglasses now."

"Are you sure that you are not taking this too personal?" Blake asked.

Yang simply raised an eyebrow and gave her a skeptical look, before reading the rest of the injuries. "A concussion for Coco, a minor case of oxygen-starvation for the big guy and Fox was used as a punching bag. Huh…so he did learn something from me."

"He didn't kill them," Weiss said. "Most fortunately, but still. That is not like him. If he was really growing mentally unstable, he would have murdered them."

Yang grunted. "According to Velvet's report, she told him that he didn't need to kill them. If he spared her team, she would let him go. Which she did."

"Clever girl," Ruby remarked. "Gimme!"

She reached for the scroll, but Yang pulled it just outside her reach and smirked. "How do you say that?"

With an explosive sigh, Ruby corrected herself. "Please give me your scroll before I am forced to steal it from your fingers?"

"Good enough."

"So if I understand this, he did not kill team CFVY because he was still stable…and he wasn't truly after General Ironwood?" Blake asked.

"Not sure…he was unconscious when Yang found him…the wound I gave him was already healing."

"Well," Yang then said, deciding that she had had enough of these speculations and wild guesses, "there is only one way to find out. We ask him."

She was met with a disturbing lack of response. Weiss and Ruby exchanged a meaningful look, Blake shook her head and looked away…and none of them agreed! "What?"

"I…don't think that is a good idea today," Ruby hesitantly said. "Today was a difficult day…I think it's for the best if we leave him alone for now."

Weiss stood up from Ruby's bed. "And not just for now. Remember what Headmaster Ozpin said? He wants to talk to us when we've recovered enough. And I just know that _someone_ did not write her mission report! I won't say any names though…Ruby."

Young Ruby chuckled nervously and ran a hand through her hair. "Whatever do you mean?"

"The mission report concerning the engagement and subsequent captivity of the Operative?" Blake innocently suggested.

"Oh, you mean the report I couldn't write because of my poor, very much stabbed shoulder?"

"Right."

"In that case, we're good to go. Weiss, Blake? Could you go ahead and find the Headmaster? I need to have a small talk with my dear sister."

Oh…uh-oh. That sounded serious.

Weiss and Blake both nodded and moved towards the exit. While Blake understood the need for privacy for the two sisters, it didn't look like Weiss shared that same thought. "You had better take it easy!" She firmly told Ruby. "If I hear you two argued, I will personally see to it that Braunschweiger will serve as a mediator!"

"It won't come to that," Ruby replied with a smile. "I promise!"

Weiss visibly hesitated before accepting that nothing worthy of concern was going to happen. However, when she closed the door and left, Yang knew that whatever it was Ruby wanted to talk about, it would be anything but unworthy of concern.

"So," Yang asked, checking to see if Weiss and Blake had really left, "What do you want to-"

"Are you angry with me?"

"-talk about. Okay then." She sat down next to her sister on the bed and wrapped an arm around her waist, carefully so as to not hurt her shoulder. "Because you stabbed him?"

"No, stabbing is what happened to my shoulder. What I did to him was impalement on Myrtenaster, all the way to the hilt."

Yang couldn't help but notice the guild in her sister's voice, the brief break in her voice at the end of her sentence. "I'm not angry with you. The two of you both hurt each other, but the circumstances were different."

"It was in the same fight."

"Yeah, but you did it believing you had to prevent war between Vale and Atlas and safe a friend. He did it because he had to get past you. The only way to keep us occupied long enough…was to hurt you."

"I could have killed him!"

"If you used Crescent Rose, you might have. It was a rapier, Ruby. He's had worse."

Ruby looked away. "I… guess. So how are you holding up?"

With a grin, Yang ruffled her hair and said, "Depending on what Ozpin wants to say to us, I think I'm content. Nobody died, team RWBY didn't need to avoid some big political incident and we've got our friend back. I think I can call this a victory."

"If this is victory, I don't want to see defeat…" Ruby muttered.

"That's the spirit! Come on, Ozpin wants to talk to us, right?"

"Yay…"

Yang pulled Ruby back to her feet and checked the bandage on her shoulder. "Then we're good to go! Come on."

As it turned out, the Headmaster was not already waiting for them in his office. His really big office with all the cool gears and things. Blake and Weiss were standing at the ready in front of his door, but they didn't look very confident. Had something happened?

"Ready?" Ruby asked her partner.

"As if," Weiss replied with a soft voice. "The Headmaster is…busy. We can come in within a few minutes, but…"

"Busy? Busy how?"

"Something happened," Blake said, her expression grave. "Something bad."

"Well, what is it then?"

Weiss and Blake exchanged a meaningful look before the Heiress said, "Listen, the Breach caused more trouble than we initially thought. When that Torchwick guy let those Grimm in…and when the Tormentor and the Juggernaut showed up, Vale was pretty much leveled. But that was structural damage. Buildings and infrastructure. But when Onyx was revealed to be…well, what they did…the Kingdom of Vale suddenly got the interest of the entire world."

Onyx…even speaking that word lately was bound to piss somebody off. The n=on-governmental organization responsible for half the world's problems and the disappearance of the other half did not leave a lot of room for morality. They experimented on people, but also saved them. They destroyed entire cities' worth of human beings, but saved even more of them.

And Yang despised them. Everybody at Beacon did. "And?"

Blake sighed. "And Vacuo sent an entire division of their military police to Vale to keep an eye on things. They arrive today and they have the Headmaster worrying sick."

Damn.

"Why would Ozpin be worrying about new police units?" Ruby asked. "After the thing that Torchwick pulled, more police is a good thing, right?"

"Ruby," Blake said, "you do know what a military police is, right? What Vacuo's unit is infamous for?"

The redhead shook her head. "No idea."

"Let me explain. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but Vacuo…that's different. When Ash kills someone, does he do that because he is evil? Or a murderer?"

Ash…now that was an ethical comparison. An unfair one at that; the guy was mentally fractured.

"No," Ruby replied with an unsure expression. "At least…he only kills people he thinks are threats to him. In his head, it is self-defense. He doesn't know any better."

"Exactly. He doesn't know any better. Now imagine you did know better, but you just don't care. That you had military training and that you don't care if the person you are facing is a Grimm, or a woman, or a child. That you just cared for using your training to hurt others."

"Then I would be a psychopath?"

"Correct. Vacuo's military police is infamous for having the world's shortest fuse –shorter than that of a Death Stalker- and for their vulgar displays of violence and police brutality." Blake finished that sentence with a bitterness that she had not used since the time she had spoken about how the White Fang had fallen from their original political viewpoint. It was the same bitterness that Yang had often heard from people who spoke of sensitive subjects when they had too much experience in that matter to stay objective or calm.

"You've had contact with the Vacuo police then?" Yang asked.

Blake crossed her arms and looked at the ground. "Yes. A small protest on the Faunus side, six years ago. Some city in Vacuo."

"So what happened?"

"Violence happened."

With a hearty sigh, Yang nudged her partner's shoulder and said, "So these guys resort to violence with everything they do?"

"That's putting it subtly, yes."

Ruby groaned and slid down against the wall. "Great. That's about the last thing we need right now. And this unit is supposed to keep Onyx out?"

"According to the call that Ozpin was making, they are."

"Then I can't wait for them to meet our friends," Yang said with grim satisfaction.

"Yang!" Ruby said with a shocked tone. "Don't say that! If they get into trouble with the police, they will be arrested and deported to some asylum!"

Wait, what? "I beg your pardon?"

Before her sister could give her reply, the door swung open and revealed the coffee-drinking glasses-wearing form of Headmaster Ozpin, fresh from his recent phone call.

"Ladies?" He said, taking a sip from his cup. "I take it that the four of you are healthy enough to do this?"

Ruby jumped to her feet. "Of course sir. Team RWBY stands ready."

"Oh, I don't doubt that. If you would follow me?"

The team silently followed the Headmaster into his office, whereupon he sat down on his chair and the four of them kept standing. Just like old times.

"So," he said after a few moments of silence. "You four have had an eventful day today. How is your injury, Miss Rose?"

Ruby straightened. "Healing just fine, sir."

"I trust that it is. Miss Schnee, your weapon was destroyed during the fight. Is that correct?"

Weiss scraped her throat before replying. "It was. I will find a way to repair it though. Sir."

"Good." Ozpin sighed and leant forwards, resting his head on his intertwined fingers. "We live in uncertain times these days. The White Fang has retreated to the shadows, fearing that Onyx would hunt them to their destruction. General Ironwood has captured Roman Torchwick, but that is not enough for him. He fears that Vale will not be able to cope on its own. Do you?"

Yang did not know to whom the question was posed, but it was Ruby who replied. "I think that Vale will overcome whatever gets thrown at it."

It wasn't that simple. During the Breach, the rarer forms of Grimm had shown their ugly faces at the worst possible time. Onyx had been forced to destroy half the city with a bombing run to take out the Juggernaut, while the Tormentor had disappeared. If the thing had managed to survive that…

"Unfortunately, the remaining Councils do not believe so. Mistral has stayed out of our business, but the Kingdom of Vacuo has chosen to take a more…active role in maintaining peace in our Kingdom. I am certain that Miss Belladonna and Miss Schnee already overheard that section. Vacuo has agreed to send a unit of well-trained military police forces to this city, to help safeguard our wellbeing."

"Sir, can I ask a question?"

"Of course."

"Why do you tell us specifically? Why not just…hold a speech? And tell everyone in general?"

A glimmer of amusement played over Ozpin's eyes. "Because it is your team that is the most likely to get into trouble, Miss Rose. And while you may, as the term goes, play around with the Vale Police Department, this new unit will not let such actions go unpunished. Consider what were to happen if a team of Huntresses-to-be got themselves involved in a fight with the Vacuo police force? Surely that would be a political incident waiting to happen. And…"

"And if some of our friends got themselves involved in such a fight, it would be instant war?" Ruby suggested.

"Indeed. Onyx has not made itself popular lately. Their crimes of war and disregarding of martial law has stretched their relationships with the other Kingdoms rather thin. So consider this an official warning, ladies. Keep yourselves out of trouble, keep your friends out of trouble and contact team JNPR, LACG and CRDL as well."

"Will do sir."

"See to it that you will. Also worth mentioning is that a psychiatrist has been assigned to Beacon."

Ruby blinked a few times. "A doctor?"

"No," Weiss whispered, "that's a physician."

"Considering our recent problems, the school board has considered it wise to stage conversations between specific individuals and this psychiatrist. Rest assured that she is considered an expert in what she does. I would recommend speaking truthfully if your turn comes up. It will not do for teams to fall apart in the middle of a mission because of unresolved tensions, issues or problems, now would it?"

"Why a shrink?" Yang asked. "For Ash and Lily? Cal?"

"For any individuals who are in need of counseling, Miss Xiao Long. I cannot imagine what were to happen if one were to experience the full effects of the Tormentor Grimm in the middle of a fight, or how a near-death situation would affect one's psyche. To say nothing of the strain of a war on the development of students blooming in their teen years, affected by experiences on the field that clash with hormonal influences." He paused. "Sometimes, those who are in dire need of such services are closer than you might think. Onyx is not the only cause of traumas."

"I'll assess if my team has members in need of a psychic shrink, sir. If that is all, I would like to-:

Ozpin reared back and observed them for a few moments, shutting Ruby up with nothing more than a stern look "We've placed the Operative in isolation, which includes measures to keep him from hurting himself or others. There has not been any improvement in his situation, I am afraid. Miss Xiao Long? Do not visit him until you are allowed to."

"Why do you need to tell me?" Yang exclaimed, looking around for support. Ruby, Blake and Weiss were just staring at her with skeptical expressions. "Oh fine, I'll behave. Sir."

"That will be all then. You may take your leave."

The four of them nodded and turned towards the door. At the last moment, Ruby turned around and asked, "What will happen to them now? Can they stay at Beacon?"

For the first time since she had known him, Headmaster Ozpin hesitated before he spoke. "I do not know."

"Worst and best case scenarios?"

"Ruby!" Weiss hissed.

But Ozpin didn't seem to mind. "In the best case scenario, others will recognize that the best way to help these people is to have them stay with those they like. In the worst case scenario, Fireteam Lima and the Operative will be removed from Beacon Academy and taken to a different Kingdom, where they will have to go through a full psychiatric workout, which might take years. That is not even considering the possibility of Onyx taking them back with force."

Yang barely had the time to let those words sink in before Ruby thanked the Headmaster for his answer and went for the door again. What she did hear was Ozpin placing one last remark before she did.

"Ruby, you will have to consider what will be better for them. Sometimes, the right path is not the most pleasant or fair path."

Ruby inhaled sharply, but she did not turn around to face the Headmaster again. "Noted, sir."

It didn't take an older sister or partner to see that the last part of the conversation had deeply disturbed Ruby. Blake politely closed the door behind them and then watched as Weiss placed an arm around Ruby's middle and gave her a hug. "Come on. Ozpin doesn't always know what's best either. He makes mistakes, right?"

"Yes," Ruby replied with a soft voice. "More than any man, woman or child, according to him. But that's what I'm afraid of."

"What do you mean?"

Ruby took another deep breath. "How do we know when a mistake has been made? Won't it be too late by then?"

"I don't know if the choice is ours to make," Blake said. It wasn't really the best way Yang knew to cheer someone up, but anything would do right now. "That's the problem with free will. It only becomes a mistake of you make the choice."

"That's great," Yang loudly said. "So long as someone else forces their choice on us, it's fine!"

"That's not what I said."

"Then let _me_ say something," Weiss snapped. "It's late and I'm hungry. Worrying isn't going to repair Myrtenaster and it won't heal Ruby's wound. So what do you say?"

"I'm for!" Ruby said, nearly teleporting to her partner's side. "And tomorrow, we can decide on what to do."

"Very well," Blake said.

Yang groaned, but she failed to see how Weiss's plan could be wrong. "Fine. I'm in. But tomorrow we're going to do some serious meddling again!"

"Wouldn't want to go without it.

* * *

 _*Field Agent "Frost" Schnee calculated worst-case scenario: the complete and utter destruction of the Schnee Dust Company, including the loss of potential heirs and allies. Request pending.*_

" _Ah yes, the prodigal son. Of course he would suggest that. Get this message to Agent Granit. Tell him that Ozpin needs to know that we will not stand idly by while the world succumbs to war. Have Ozpin know that we know."_


	2. Chapter 2

" _Team RWBY, team JNPR and team LACG were the first individuals of the Kingdom of Vale to ever set foot in the North since the human-Grimm war. They were accompanied by the Onyx Operative "Will" Greystone, who served as their guide and representative of the Onyx organization. The expedition, funded by Onyx and organized by Beacon, served to reinforce and secure the remaining human forces that had survived the brutal winters and long years since the war. It was underway to the North that the three teams encountered the rogue Operative Blackwood, subsequently engaging them in a short but brutal fight wherein half the students were disabled or beaten in the first moments of the engagement._

 _Interrogative: "Everybody walked away alive from that one."_

* * *

 **Onyx holding cell**

The lights flickered on again, blinding the man in the chair with the sheer brightness of their glare. He groaned as they bit into his eyes, burning the image of a dozen television screens into his mind. He groggily shook his head, trying to clear out the intense headache that was pounding away on his head. He was only vaguely aware of his environment, seeing the television screens as unimportant to him. The dark walls and large window to his left did not have his attention and neither did the wires that ran up and down his chair.

He only realized that his arms and legs were painfully chained to the seat with leather straps, digging deep into his skin. His clothes were dirty and torn and his feet were bare. Blood slowly dripped down his fingers from cuts and bruises on his arms.

"Wake up," a malformed and malicious voice boomed. "Torchwick, wake up!"

Roman only grunted. His memories had yet to fully return to him after the rough ride he had received during his transfer from Atlas custody. As such, he had to struggle to even remember where he was. "I…"

"Respond Torchwick!"

The screens flared to life, though a burst of static preceded the images and scenes that they played. Each and every single one of them had a different part of Roman Torchwick's life on a small loop, all of them parts from his last few months of activity. Most of them did not even display him though.

"Ah…whadda ya want…" he muttered.

"Information. Look around!"

Doing as he was told as if he was acting in instinct, Roman noticed that this wasn't an Atlas holding cell. He saw filthy tiles, thick cables and even a few patches of blood. His. And the screens…they disturbed him more than anything. "What is this…place?"

"On the screen to your right. One up higher. That one. Who is that person?"

The degree to which they could see his movements undermined his courage. "She…who are you people?"

"For the last time: you will answer our questions."

Roman was starting to remember. A visit to the Atlas holding cell…a trip in an Airship…and the screen...it held someone familiar. Someone who had him more scared than a bunch of shady pricks hiding behind glass. "Too scared to face me…on your own?"

That proved to be a mistake. A faint buzzing sound was his only warning before a massive dosage of electricity exploded through his body, turning his nerves into needles and his blood into fire. He held out for exactly two seconds –the interrogators behind the screen counted both of them- before he started screaming.

And he couldn't stop. His body jerked and shocked and went completely rigid; he couldn't even stop screaming if he wanted to. The pain went on and on and on until his throat was raw and he had no more air left. Only then did they shut it off.

A small trickle of fluid ran down his tattered trousers and he could smell an unpleasant smell.

"Is this the first time losing bladder control, Torchwick?" the man behind the glass mocked him. "The Operatives did better than you and they were nine! What! Do! You! See!"

"I –screw you!" Torchwick screamed. His voice broke and his eyes were wet, but he didn't care. "She'll kill me if I talk!"

"Do you think death is the worst thing waiting for you? Do you know what WE will do to YOU if we don't get our answers! THE SCREEN!"

Roman took a deep gasp and forced himself to look at the footage of Cinder Fall. Footage that, in his mind, was impossible. How could anyone have seen them in that hangar? Those two brats had been there too…but _she_ always noticed anything. "C-Cinder…"

"Subject Fall. She is _ours_ ¸ Torchwick. She was never meant to walk around. Where did she find you?"

"But…" Roman couldn't breathe properly. The pain and numbness in his body was nearly too much to take. "No…years back. With…" he tried to swallow and failed. "Adamant. In Atlas. Three…three-hundred dead…promised me change."

"You betrayed your partner for her. Set an entire city up to be slaughtered, but Adamant took action. Subject Fall took you with her."

"No…I went…went willingly. Remnant's gone…" he chuckled despite humor being the last thing on his mind. "You think…you bunch…can stop it? What's…what's coming?"

"Of course," the interrogator said matter-of-factly. "Cinder Fall! Her tattoos, Torchwick! Did you see them?"

"Yes!" Roman shouted at the window, tasting blood in his mouth. "I did! Y-you…you sick b-bastards! You did that!"

"The engrafted Dust boosts her Semblance. But she was never meant to walk! She is a Catalyst, Torchwick. An implant. WHY IS SHE AT BEACON?"

They knew…they knew everything. They always had. "Don't know…"

He wanted to sleep, but he could not, because they hurt him again. Electrical energy flowed through his body and consumed his mind with pain and burning and agony. The need for sleep turned into a desire for death and when the currents faded, so did the last of his resistance.

"We saw your files! You are nothing! And we can do this for days. This voltage leaves no scars, has minimal effect on your appearance. None of you were trained to handle pain. Subject Fall would have broken just like the others, had she not had help. Why. Beacon."

Roman let his head hang. "She's gathering names…don't know why…"

They accepted that. "What do you know of Cassandra Tyrian?"

"She…pedophilic psycho. Aided Cinder to escape…from the labs. _Your_ defector."

"That's right. Professor Tyrian assisted Subject Fall in her escape from the testing grounds. Why?"

"N-never…she never talked about that."

"You met her?"

"Once…maybe twice…can I…rest now?"

"Only when we solve this. Look at the next screen. Above. Left. Who is she?"

"Please…she's just…"

More electricity. More screams. The pain lasted longer than before, too. Would his body give out before his mind did? "Neopolitan…a…a friend…"

"Where is she?"

"Out…streets…"

"Vale?"

"Just…"

"Is she in Vale? Torchwick?"

Roman nearly blacked out before sharp injections into his arms brought him back to the conscious world, albeit with more blurry colors than before. And his heart now beat in his ears rather than his throat. "Shit…what did you…what did you _do_ to me?"

"Nothing you need to worry about yet. The girl! Focus on the girl!"

"She…she's…still in Vale…hiding."

"She gets tired after a few hour of using her Semblance. Then she starts slipping up. She can escape nets, but containment fluids are harder. Her range is only a dozen meters at best when she gets this tired."

And _he_ was too tired to feel the alarm and dread that he would have normally felt after such a remark. "She…doesn't know…about this."

"Doesn't matter. Within a few days, she will know intimately."

"She will find me."

"We are counting on it. Look at the next screen."

* * *

 **Beacon Academy, 17:55, main dining hall, one day after arrival of Vacuo military police unit.**

Ruby chuckled quietly and downed another cookie, watching Jaune and Yang of all people have a pleasant conversation about the people they cared for and looked up against. It was endearing to hear, but saddening at the same time. It reminded her of the time that Onyx and Beacon had staged that expedition to the Northern continent, which had been overrun at the earliest hours of the human-Grimm war. Any time her team could relax and have fun was a time that they needed to take advantage of, but…doing so at the expense of other people just felt bad. Hollow. In the North it had been the civilians still stuck in having to fight for their lives while team RWBY was searching for that abandoned lab and here…Cal and the others might well be imprisoned for what they were, and here they were trying to forget about that.

Where were they even? They weren't out in Vale, "greeting" the new keepers of peace, were they?

"But Pyrrha is just that good," Jaune told Yang, deflecting a badly-thrown apple from Nora in the meantime. "She took down team CRDL on her own in a single fight."

"I know," Yang replied. "I saw. But let's be honest; any one of us can take down CRDL on our own. Well, not people from LACG, but still."

"Where is LACG even? Did they become allergic to food all of a sudden?"

Yang shrugged. "Dunno. Last time I heard, they were still out hunting. If Lisa's smart, she will introduce her team to the new police. I think they're going to get to know each other very well in the nearby future."

"Is that a prediction of violence I hear?" Jaune said with a mile, before taking a bite from Nora's apple. "She doesn't do well with the police."

"Then I hope Professor Adamant teaches her how to keep her mouth shut; can you imagine that, an Adamant causing another political incident?"

"I don't want to."

Yang stretched her arms and yawned, glancing at the tables where the seniors sat. Her eyes narrowed and her smile faded somewhat. She missed him. "Well, back to business. Do you think Pyrrha can beat team CFVY on her own?"

Jaune hesitated. "Coco's team right? Why do you ask?"

And then Yang's smile grew big and smug. Ruby liked it when she looked smug. It was usually followed by severe butt-whooping or a badass boast. "Didn't you hear? _He_ beat CFVY on his own. And without killing any of them."

Weiss, sitting next to Ruby, sighed and continued working on her scroll, looking like she was desperately trying to keep out of their conversation. She wondered what was going on with her.

"You know Yang, not killing people is usually considered normal," Ren said without looking up from his dinner. "And he didn't fight them all at the same time. He separated them."

"But this is special!" Yang protested. "He and Coco hate each other's guts."

Ruby shook her head and decided to interrupt for a little bit. _Sorry Yang, but you missed something important here._ "So you did hear about their fight?"

"You did?" Jaune demanded, turning to face his teammate with mock distress. "I am shocked!"

"It was just a rumor."

"This is Beacon! Rumors are better than facts!"

"A rumor told by Nora. Reinforced by Lisa."

Yeah…that actually did degrade the validity of the rumor. "And how did Lisa find out?"

"Alessa must have hacked something," Yang mused. "But the fact stands!"

"Oh come on!" Jaune let himself get sidetracked immediately and then the idea of a serious security breach caused by a klepto-hacker was completely forgotten. "If he didn't fight them all at the same time, it doesn't count!"

Yeah yeah, Ruby had had Yang read the report to her. Divide and conquer, her uncle called it. RWBYs little Operative had still delivered an impressive stratagem for someone who was supposed to be delusional, hallucinating and utterly confused. She didn't really like that though; if Professor Adamant and Beacon's medical staff could not figure out what was causing all of this inside of his strange little head…the risks of another break-out were still monumental.

"Coco and Velvet had their final stand together Jaune. Do you think CRDL is better than Coco and Velvet fighting together? They're second years."

While this CRDL bashing was always fun to listen to, Ruby had to interrupt once more. "Let's be fair. After Professor Johnson took them to that warzone between Arcadia and Luna, the guys changed. Even before that! They became helpful to others. The bullying stopped too."

Yeah, well, a visit to the scar in the land where thousands upon thousands of soldiers had met their blood fate would be enough to make anyone ponder their place in life. The war had only been stopped two years ago and people still called it the bloodiest conflict in the Kingdom yet. The Luna-Arcadia conflict…the Death-war.

"I think Cardin stopped his campaign around the same time as Jaune punched him in his face," Blake casually said from behind her book. She had plucked _Soldiers of Love_ from the shelves again, probably for the tasty bits.

"Still awesome, by the way," Yang then added. "Just not as awesome as choking out Yatsuhashi using only your legs."

Points to Yang; Yatsuhashi was about as tall as Blackwood was. Nowhere near as scary, but it still counted.

"That's what has me somewhat skeptical," Jaune admitted. "I'm not so good at martial arts, but I know for a fact that you can easily defend yourself when being choked. The movies lie; choking takes a long time."

Ren looked up from his plate. "Not necessarily. There are two ways of choking someone. Air-choking…"

"And blood-choking," Yang finished. "Strangling someone by preventing them from breathing supposedly takes anywhere between thirty seconds to two minutes."

"Not reliable when pulling six-and-a-half foot of Yatsuhashi into the air with nothing but your legs. Especially not if you come from the ceiling."

"Hold on, time out. How did Velvet know that? She wasn't there!" Jaune protested. Pyrrha, sitting a few seats away trying to learn Nora how not to instigate another food fight, looked up as well.

"Yats testified when he woke up as well. He understood what had happened," Yang took the liberty of explaining. "Now, if you use a blood choke, you skip all that. Pinch off a blood vessel and your guy goes down within seconds."

Blake snorted. "Personal experience, I take it?"

"Yup. Have to be careful though; apply too long and you damage the brain. We don't want that. And no, I never caused brain damage that way."

"Reassuring."

"And crude," Pyrrha then called. "Causing brain damage in any way is a most undesirable result, Yang. You should know that."

Yang sighed and placed her hand underneath her chin. "Aura prevents most damage caused by blunt force and nobody has ever died from a concussion. At least, not that I'm aware."

Ruby noticed that the atmosphere was still somewhat gritty. They hadn't forgotten who they had been forced to fight and they most certainly hadn't forgotten what they had read in that hacked file. Team RWBY was the only team that knew, but by now most of the first and second years had to be aware that something was wrong.

"Where would we have been if any of them had died?" Pyrrha continued. "It is fortunate that you managed to take him with you without incident, but it was very close this time."

"We'll fix it," Yang brushed her concerns away. "We always do."

Of course, Ruby liked to think that she had taught him how to be better, but still. It was a viable concern. And if the expressions of the rest of the people around the table were any indication, they had to think the same. She could see the hesitation in Weiss's eyes and the anxiety in the way Jaune smiled. Even Nora was quieter than normal, which really should be obvious to the rest.

But she supposed that was the way it went. She always saw things that the others didn't and well…that was her thing. Reading expressions, watching reactions, judging and theorizing what could be wrong. That made it possible for her to address problems before they could really become problems. If only she had known about this beforehand.

Even Yang's smile was fake. She knew that, because it never reached her eyes. She was hurting inside and she didn't want anyone to know that. Yang was all about appearing strong and confident, never once wavering because she had to be tough for the rest. It had always been like that.

Ruby wondered how much longer her sister could keep that façade up. The few months at Beacon had been more taxing and grueling than four years of preliminary training could have ever been. Enough to make anyone have nightmares.

After the last remark, the table grew somewhat quiet. When Jaune next spoke, the sudden change of subject felt weird and forced.

"So I guess our cleaning lady is busy, right?"

"He's probably cleaning the windows again," Ren remarked.

"Yeah, mister Braunschweiger is a busy man."

Ruby looked up when someone else entered the dining hall again, making a beeline straight towards their table. He was clad in what would be a sketchy view of "normal civilian clothes" and that lack of common sense instantly struck a sensitive chord within her. Her heart jumped and she got halfway upright before she spotted the dark fox ears and the black way of dressing. Others recognized him as well; third year students and second year students, staring at the person they vaguely knew to be a remorseless psychopath just because their first impression of him was an emergency newscast regarding the unethical manner of Onyx's recruitment.

"Hey Cal," Ruby cheerfully said as the Faunus knelt down next to her. His dark-blue hair looked messier than before, almost as if he had a lack of proper sleep. Or too much sleep.

Cal ignored her greeting, but she had grown sort of used to that now. "We found Ash."

Team JNPR was aware of the…special circumstances…surrounding Ash, Cal and Lily, but Jaune had had the common sense to instruct them on how to behave when faced with those circumstances. That meant not acting at all and just continuing like nothing was wrong. As such, only team RWBY grew tense and worried while Jaune flashed a quick look at his ream, telling them to just keep doing their thing.

"When?" Ruby asked, noticing the tension in Cal's jawline. This could go two ways.

"Last night. A group of Atlas soldiers found him first. Nobody died," he quickly added, most likely spotting Weiss's concerned expression, "but there were casualties. Listen, do you know a girl named Penny?"

Ruby gasped, but quickly recovered and reassumed a neutral expression. Severe emotional reactions wouldn't be understood by him. "Yes, we do. She's…a bit special."

"More than you know. A scientist within Atlas military contacted us some weeks ago, wanting an Onyx escort for the girl."

So…Atlas troopers found Ash, but there were casualties…so Ash probably snapped. Either it wasn't bad enough for people to die, or someone intervened and stopped the conflict from escalating. Penny was with Atlas, she had an Onyx escort for a while then…she found Ash. He had to have been her escort in the past. Huh…a bit special with a bit special. "And she found him last night?"

He blinked and a brief look of confusion passed over his face, but the next moment it was gone. Still hesitative about showing his emotions. "Yes. She took him back to Beacon and Lily's keeping an eye on him now."

Ruby was relieved to hear that. This could have gotten very, very ugly, especially now that this new police unit was wandering around. "So how is he?"

Cal hesitated. That was bad stuff. "Not well. We haven't heard anything about a reassignment, but that whistleblower was _not_ good for his head. I-"

"You heard about that new Vacuo unit?" Blake asked.

"Yes, which is precisely why I'm so worried. If he heads out on his own again…" His voice trailed off, most likely because he didn't want to think about what would happen.

Ruby could think of a handful of others reasons for him to be worried, but she wasn't going to torment him with those problems now. He had told her about Ash's disappearance the day CFVY had left on their fateful hunting mission, but back then it had been impossible for her team to leave Beacon to go help look for him. She was just glad that things hadn't grown worse than they already were.

"Why don't you come sit down?" Yang said, offering a spot next to her. "That can't be the entire story."

The Faunus looked at the offered spot like it had threatened to murder him in his sleep and stood up instead. "Can't. I'm busy writing that dissertation for when the shrinks come knocking on our door. Listen…if you do see Ash wandering around…don't let him wander off."

"That's fine," Ruby replied. "We'll keep an eye out. Are you sure you don't need any more help?"

Again there was no reply to her question. He just turned around and left, which was awfully rude. Ruder than he normally was. Something was wrong...apart from the fact that he and his team were probably going to be shipped off to either a mental clinic, a federal prison or back to the battlefield. She didn't know which one would be the worst for them.

"Good job," Weiss bit at Yang.

"Me? What did I do!"

"You scared him off!"

No…no, that wasn't it. Well, maybe partially. Cal wasn't Will; Yang could mess around with him all she wanted and he was too devoted to her to let that turn him off. On the other hand, he did seem very much distracted and disturbed even before all of this. "Yang didn't scare him off. He doesn't get scared. Remember how he lost his tail?"

"I…fine. You're right."

"Why do you care Weiss?" Blake asked with amusement. "That's not like you."

"Oh please! As if I can't be nice to people."

Both the rest of team RWBY as half team JNRP gave the Heiress a skeptical look, prompting her to sigh in annoyance. "Fine! I am frustrated. It's not fair. The Grimm are out there, massing and advancing, and we are fighting among each other! Onyx messes with Beacon, Vacuo and Atlas messes with Onyx and we have to fight our friends to preserve the peace. How is that unity?"

"Don't forget the loss of your weapon," Ruby commented. Better for Weiss to throw it out now than to keep it bottled up. They all knew that bottling up was bad.

"Yes, that too."

"Wait, you lost your weapon?" Pyrrha asked with a shocked tone.

"Not in the typical sense of lost. He broke it."

"I beg your pardon?" Jaune said.

Weiss crossed her arms and assumed a pose that basically screamed that her patience was running out. "He broke it over his knee at the climax of the fight. Do you have any idea how hard it is to repair metal specially treated for channeling Dust as well as your Semblance? How much that costs? How much time it takes!"

Ruby placed a hand on her partner's knee and said, "We'll find a way to fix it, Weiss. Don't worry."

"Are you seriously telling me to not worry?"

JNPR was a bit too close for confidential comfort. Their conversation would have to wait a bit longer. "Yes. Apart from Myrtenaster, we've had a major victory! We plugged the breach, got Torchwick arrested and prevented a political incident!"

"Which isn't nothing," Jaune added.

"So let's just take this evening and make it a good one."

"You do that," Blake suddenly said, slamming her book shut. "I've got some research to do."

Ruby gave her a look. She had expected an emotional fallout, but this? "What? What for? The White Fang hasn't shown its face again, Onyx has to deal with the public aftermath of their war crimes and everybody else has stopped!"

"I know," Blake replied. Her voice said that she was calm and under control, but the slight blush on her cheek said otherwise. "But you can consider this something personal."

Very, very suspicious. But considering that it was late and the fact that Blake had had her eyes on someone interesting for a while now made that less suspicious and more cute. "Alright then. I guess everybody is…privy…to their own alone-time."

"Where did you learn that word?" Yang playfully asked before her scroll buzzed. It was a good thing that it distracted her, because Ruby didn't want to admit that there were more hacked Onyx dossiers than just the one. Even though were difficult to read and filled with nightmarish horrors the moment they _could_ be read, the difficult words that they used were still handy.

So Ruby continued. "Just be careful of anything that starts with an "o" and you will be very much safe. Well then, that leaves just three of us. Yang-"

But big sister Yang did not listen to her. Big sister Yang stood up with such haste that she lifted the table half a meter into the air, as well as the two tables next to it that were professionally connected with steel bolts and glue. "Sorry Rubes, gotta go."

Oh, that was too bad. Why would she…wait a scythe-firing minute…Ruby knew that cheerful expression, the faint longing in those lilac eyes and that nearly-naughty grin! Someone was awake!

She glanced around her. Half the dining hall was now paying attention to teams RWBY and JNPR because of Yang's exotic way of getting up, but it didn't look like anyone that did not belong to RWBY actually understood just _why_ Yang had felt the need to nearly break the table in half. That could be a good thing, but it could also be a bad thing. Where any significant change between those two had occurred was still unknown.

But there were positive things about this. She just needed to find them…people were questioning their actions…JNPR was in danger of finding dangerous stuff…Yang was in emotional danger…but Weiss was now here! And the two of them could be alone!

The young Rose turned to her partner and brushed against her leg with her foot. "Okay then. Weiss? I'll show you…ehm…how to start repairing your weapon…yes…back in our dorms. Wanna come?"

"I guess-" Weiss blushed and had to disguise an alarmed cry as a cough when Ruby moved her leg up a little bit. "Yes, most definitely! An excellent suggestion!"

Ruby had seen Beowolves cover up their emotional responses better, but it was a start.

Team RWBY being team RWBY, all four of them had left the main dining hall within ten seconds after their respective decisions. Blake darted off for the library, Yang left for a floor that they hadn't even fully explored yet and Ruby and Weiss had their dormitories all for themselves that evening.

Ruby couldn't wait.

* * *

For the first time in a long period of work, stress and fights, Professor Glynda Goodwitch found herself without anything to do. Of course she had a large pile of papers and plain bureaucracy to work through, but she just could not muster the will to start at it. Her thoughts troubled her, memories of past fights kept her preoccupied.

Looking past the window of her office brought her some measure of calmness. Though it was late, she could still see students moving around outside. They would return from a visit to the city, or head out towards the garden. Lessons at Beacon Academy were still going on and teachers were still educating, but their policies had changed over the course of the past few weeks. There were children wandering about Academy grounds that did not enjoy the rights of education and teaching, having had their minds forcibly set to a certain amount of goals and actions that they could focus on, but nothing more. They were not students, but they were still present. Headmaster Ozpin tolerated them and so would she, but…she just was not certain about them.

Though Glynda expected a visitor, she had not prepared for one. Her office was a mess…her scroll filled with unanswered messages and calls. But she had her priorities. Important ones. Headmaster Ozpin had tasked her with tracking down the rogue Operative Blackwood, the infamous Brawler. She had attempted to fulfill that assignment once, but then the Breach had occurred. Of course she had been unable to complete the mission once her city had been besieged by the vile creatures of Grimm. That was only logical.

A knock on the door shook her from her musings and she called, "It is open."

Professor Adamant entered her office, looking as aloof as ever. His messy, brown hair looked as if he walked with his head against an Alpha Beowolf one too many times. If only his silly sense of fashion had shared that same experience; his clothes were so old fashioned that they could give Peter a run for his money. And to top it off, his bowtie hadn't even been attached properly. That was odd; Matt Adamant wasn't the type to let an incorrect bowtie slide even on a passing stranger, let alone on himself.

"Hey, fun fact," he said with a distracted voice as he calmly wandered into her office, holding an oversized scroll against his face. "Militaries all over the world are resorting to more primitive weapons. Did you know that Mistral authorized napalm strikes against overrun cities? Those buildings burn _brightly_ into the night."

"Professor Adamant," Glynda sternly said, her instincts immediately kicking into overdrive. "You do not talk about matters of war like that! People are dying on the battlefield."

"I know I know," he offhandedly said, literally waving his hand at her as if to wipe away her assertions. "I did war, I've been at war. But that's not what I wanted to say."

"Then what? I still hold no patience for fools, Matthew."

"Full name. Ouch. New too. I wanted to check up on you."

Glynda flashed him a severely skeptical expression. "That is very kind of you, but I must express my doubts. YOU want to check up on me?"

He nodded and then sat down. On her desk. "Sure. I also wanted to elaborate on some of the still present threats in Beacon, explain one of my more cunning plans and banter about philosophy, but primarily the checking-up part."

"For what purpose?"

He gave her a smug look. "Operative Blackwood. You had to hunt him down."

"So?"

"That's a suicide mission."

Professor Goodwitch bristled. "You of all people would doubt Ozpin's judgement? After the mercy and consideration he has shown you?"

"Good lord no. I just doubt the judgement of…pretty much everybody around me. But that's just ingrained. Life's so much fun when you can be skeptical towards basically everything. Can't trust others to do what you can do on your own, right? Now, about Blackwood…"

"I know all that there is to know about him," she hissed at him, "thank you very much."

"Apparently not. Because you were going after him.'

"So?"

"So…suicide mission. You do know that he killed Yang Xaio Long, don't you? Well, temporarily. Greystone resuscitated her. I guess that had to have been awkward for her. It's always such a…close affair."

"Professor Adamant! I do not know what it is you are trying to insinuate, but at the very least I am many times more capable than a student!"

"Oh I know that. You wouldn't be Ozpin's confidante if that weren't the case. But get this: powerful people die. Master Huntsmen can get nailed from behind after a long and heavy day, ancient Grimm can trip and fall into ravines they won't get back out of and massive guns can blow up if a single screw is inserted wrongly."

She was starting to develop a nasty headache right now. "What do you want?"

Professor Adamant huffed and grabbed a piece of paper from her desk. "I wanted to give you a warning. Engaging any Operative in close combat is suicide. I guess you want to fight him, so…"

Glynda crossed her arms and scowled. "I am confident that I can take a _teen_ in single combat."

"They are no more teen than you and I, remember? Appearances are nothing. And Blackwood is a special case. According to Commander Yale, he could kill Ursa Majors with single hits. And I guess that ranged combat would be dangerous as well. My point is: be careful."

Angrily tapping her foot against the ground, Professor Goodwitch asked, "And why would you tell me this? Shouldn't you tell your little assassin this?"

"Sensing jealousy am I? I admit, she's cute. And smart. And dangerous enough to outsneak me. And probably the dominant kind of woman. But we all know that by now. Still, she isn't the one embarking on a…"

"If you say 'suicide mission' I will discipline you."

"…dominant kind of woman. All I'm saying. I see I won't be changing your opinion…so let's move on to other important stuff."

"Let's do that, yes. What else can you say to annoy me?"

The man smirked. "More than you know. Let's keep it simple for now though. Targets of interest…VIP's…people. Stuff."

"Of course. Apart from the Operatives, who else?"

"Ah-ah-ah, Professor Goodwitch. Greystone and Mantis are our theoretical allies who theoretically won't hurt us. In theory."

"Any and all individuals who pose a threat to my students are of interest to me, Matthew."

"Again with the first names. So scary."

If he kept going like this, she _would_ cast him out the window, colleagues or not. "Please refrain from mocking me."

"Of course. Let's go simple now. The biggest loon on the loose for now: Miss Fetish."

Glynda sighed explosively and shook her head. 'Does that name contain a special story?"

"Sure. Team RWBY encountered her at first, taking notice of her…expressive way of dressing. Their nickname stuck I guess."

"If I remember correctly, team LACG was on her case."

"They were. Well, still are. We're getting to that. Miss Fetish, or Professor Cassandra Tyrian, is a special peace of nasty. Sadistic, playful, probably full of molesting streaks. She's a Soul Breaker."

"A what?"

"You know…uses her own Aura to break into the Aura of other people, gaining access to their mind. Their thoughts, their memories, their darkest secrets...she´s been able to keep hidden from Onyx though, which makes her about as tough as any seasoned Huntress. How seasoned are you, by the way?"

"Just get on with the story."

"Right. She has this follower or…assistant…who basically serves as her front-line trooper. Crimson, just your normal psychopathic, unstable terrorist who considers human lives as stupid and expendable at best. LACG is on her case as well, but…yeah."

Professor Goodwitch had heard about those two; they had been causing problems in the city for weeks. "Noted. Who else?"

"Onyx has been cleaning up a lot lately…White Fang members have been mostly wiped out during the Breach, as they didn't think about planning an escape route out of their rigged train. I don't need to tell you about that Vacuo unit…but…I really need to warn you about our guests here at Beacon."

She crossed her arms. "Oh?"

"Yes. There is a set amount of individuals they can feel for and outside of that group, anything goes. So if you do or say something that might…aggravate them…"

"And infighting when morale is already so low would be a grave mistake," she finished his thought. "Are you telling me because of a specific reason?"

"Apart from you already being a very scary lady? None at all. It's the same general warning that I received from Ozpin, who in turn received it from Yale who, I guess, heard it from that psychiatrist."

"So we are to just leave them alone? Ignore the danger they pose and the political struggles involved with keeping them around? That sounds like disaster to me."

"Probably. But it's for the best. Now that Vale has been, ahum, breached, we really should focus on killing Grimm. You know, as we are supposed to do instead of fighting amongst ourselves."

Professor Goodwitch lost her patience and she stepped up close to her colleague, jabbing at his chest with her index finger. "Your attitude has been growing steadily worse ever since the second semester started! Either you stop being an incredibly stubborn mule and tell me what's wrong, or you will start taking matters much more seriously!"

Normally such an outburst would be enough to send him scrambling for cover at the other side of the room. Frequently, it had. But now, he just stared at her with an odd expression, as if he was thinking about something completely different. "Yes, good idea. I think action is a good alternative too."

"I did not- "

"But for now, I'm afraid I have to drop the line of thoughts here. It's getting late."

"What are you-?"

"One more thing though: if and when you ignore my advice and stubbornly chase after Blackwood, try to take someone decently-competent with you. I guess I can take my leave now."

She sighed and went back to the window. "Very well. Good luck with whatever madness you are working on now."

"I don't need luck –I have an oversized ego. Good night, Professor Goodwitch."

"Good night, Professor Adamant."

He closed the door behind him.

* * *

" _Children are malleable. They learn at an astonishing rate, their bodies are ripe for adjustments and their minds are a blank slate. A child can become anything it wants. And they are easily intimidated. They do as you tell them and eventually, they grown to accept it. But even if you were to hypothetically prepare a child from birth to accept the usage of this suit, it would not work. We have the toughest materials, we have the rarest Dust, we have everything we need. The human body…doesn't. the ACE suit is impossible to wear for any living being, Aura-trained or not, for two reasons. First: the complete integration of the suits has to be on neurological level for optimal results. Second: the human mind cannot cope with both directing the suit as directing their own vital functions. Either the suit or the body works, but not both. Individuals with exceptional Aura levels had higher chances of success, but they too become casualties. It requires processing power that one soul alone cannot deliver. Enter the Catalyst Program."_


	3. Chapter 3

" _With the Grimm rampaging throughout dozens of villages and cities unfortunate enough to lie less defended than the ones in the four Kingdoms, multiple contingency-plans were devised in order to ensure mankind's survival. While some of them dealt with the continued existence of our species rather than bringing victory in the fight, others were more direct. Others were created just to open up new ways to take back stolen territory. Kill more with less effort and less casualties. Of these dozens of plans, one worthy of particular notice was the Augmented Combat Environment, or the ACE suit. Hypothesized was that three good soldiers or Hunters wearing these suits would be able to withstand Grimm numbering in the thousands. Unfortunately, the project never came to full fruition, for there were several major design flaws that made them outright impossible to be used."_

 _ **The Augmented Combat Environment: a thesis on the future of mankind pt. I**_

* * *

Tidal waves of people were closing in on him from all sides, stampeding through the smothering layers of mud and bodies as unhindered as the screams of the dying men and women around them. But he was stuck. Stuck in a knee-deep layer of mud and filth that prevented him from moving, prevented him from acting. Thunderclouds crackled in the sky, sending lances of blue energy down to the surface of the battlefield.

Every fiber of his being demanded that he fought them. His body yearned for him to move and start killing, eliminate the threats that were about to wash over him from everywhere. But he could not move. His arms were numb, his hands not responding. Paralyzed. He could only watch as the masses of enemies closed the remaining distance within seconds, while the mud pulled him down deeper and deeper.

Lightning struck the ground once more and he screamed. Screamed at the foe he could not fight, screamed at the sheer frustration and fear of being unable to act. The helplessness that he loathed so much.

He had always hated lightning.

' _I don't think this is right…'_

A spasm ran through Operative Greystone's body and he kicked with his legs, feeling more alarmed than he had felt in months. The ground was cold and hard, not wet and soft. The air was silent…silent…no guns. No explosions. No screaming. Calm.

Something was amiss. He was alive.

So where was he?

' _My name…_ ' There was a voice in his head, whispering in fractured echoes that took a long time for his mind to understand. ' _Why can't I remember my name?'_

Names…simple things. Irrelevant, though he had one too. But he remembered it. No! Irrelevant. He remembered _her_. How could he have ever forgotten her? "Easy…you've been out a long time," he found himself saying. His voice sounded odd, too. Why was he talking?

' _I can't remember. Is that my fault? Did I do something wrong? What…what did I do wrong?'_

"Calm down." The voice was oddly soothing to him. But there was something wrong…something big and obvious. He was missing it. He never missed things.

No, he always missed things. The most important things. His shoulders ached, his arms hurt and he couldn't move. Again. His upper torso didn't seem to do what he wanted.

' _So where are we?'_

The tone of the voice changed as well. Suddenly. He had other things to think about at that moment, but he did not forget that. "I don't know."

He was stuck in some room, that much was obvious. A white room with dark walls, a thick door without a visible way to open it and no windows. A prison. Or a cell. He had been captured by someone. They would torture him .Good; attempted interrogations were crucial to finding out what the enemy did and did know and while the worked with their equipment, he could find a way to…

His head hurt. Where was he? Why were the walls so throbbing?

' _Are clothes usually this tight?'_

He grunted and looked at himself, taking notice of the brightness of his new clothes. Well, just his new jacket. While he still wore his pants, it seemed that someone had taken it upon themselves to remove his upper clothing and replace it with something else. Something very tight. His arms were stuck, wrapped around his chest and fastened to his back. The fabric tugged at his armpits and prevented his arms from moving, tightly so.

Somewhere, something had gone wrong. They had given him the wrong clothes; these ones did not fit. "Sometimes."

' _I don't like it. Can you…can you try to get free?'_

He nodded and flexed his muscles, trying to rip his arms free from the strange clothing. The room started to spin around him while he did, but he could have sworn that he himself was not moving. And his sleeves did not get free. Who in their right mind would design a suit like this? "Doesn't work."

' _I…'_

The door. He hadn't tried that one. It would be smart to give it a shot. There wasn't a handle or a knob on the inside though…and he couldn't use his arms…problematic.

Was it supposed to be hot in the room?

He pressed against the door with his body, getting a feel for the hinges and the material. It was made out of at least several centimeters of solid metal, with locks on the outside. They rattled on the outside, but they were firmly locked. Even with the full use of his limbs he wouldn't be bashing through this thing in one go. "No use."

He really was having all sorts of problems. Well, if he couldn't get out, he might as well sit down and try to think for a while. His mind was foggy and thoughts were falling in and out in a jumble. Random memories and echoes of voices were the only thing that he could fully understand at the moment, but he wasn't aware of what was being said. It was all somewhat blurry

' _I can't remember…why can't I remember?'_

He couldn't remember either. Her loss hurt him more than his own though. If only he could help her. "What do you remember?

' _Screaming…darkness…memories…they haunt me. They taunt me I…I don't feel well.'_

That was probably him; his limbs were aching, but that was just physical pain. His head however managed to top that off by quite a bit; it was pounding and throbbing and the room was still spinning. "Take it easy. We'll find a way to get out of this place soon."

The door rattled and his body responded immediately, backing away over the floor and kicking with his legs to drive him backwards. His reaction surprised him; what was so scary about a rattling door?

A moment later, he understood why. Someone was opening the door and he feared people. Why did he fear people?

Not so subtly did the heavy door swing open, slamming against the dark walls with a heavy sound and allowing bright light to pour into the room.

' _Who is she?'_

The person standing in the opening of the door was breathtaking. Her long, blonde hair flew flowed freely over her shoulders and reached to her waist, becoming lighter in color at the bottom at the tips. Her purple eyes were set firmly upon his frame and her clothes seemed to shine with a beautiful radiance.

"Yang," he whispered, partially in response and partially because he remembered her name. He liked her name.

' _Is she an angel?'_

He watched Yang slowly approach him, just like she had done times before. "Yes."

There was dancing with her at the Beacon Dance, before a fight had resulted in the destruction of the Cross-Continental Tower. She had ruffled his head and he had been so confused at the touch that was not meant to hurt him.

She stopped when she stood in front of him, before kneeling down and placing herself at face level with him. She then wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed his face against his chest. The sudden display of affection took him completely by surprise and he gasped, startled by the softness and warmth of her presence.

"Hey."

"Hey," he repeated, feeling his cheeks fluster. Being this close to her seemed to ease him somewhat. His clenched muscles relaxed…but he still we wished that his arms weren't stuck, though.

Yang carefully nudged his shoulder and he looked at her, wondering what he should say. He knew her and she knew him, but he was in a bit of a difficult situation here. "So how are you now?"

He attempted to shrug, but only managed some squirming. The tight jacket was starting to get on his nerves. "I'm…confused. Where am I?"

The blonde angel frowned and her face assumed something that looked like worry. "Ehm…kind of in the brig."

Brig. A military prison to house individuals deemed to be a risk to national security, or prisoners of war. So why was he there? And more important, what was she doing here? "Location?"

Yang chuckled weakly. "First things first, Will."

' _I think I remember our names.'_

"Ancilla."

' _No, that's my name.'_

"Oh."

Yang grunted and stood, backing away from him. "Listen to me…how much can you remember of the last few days?"

The last few days…he remembered dancing at the party and fighting in street-to-street combat with the invading creatures of Grimm when the city had been breached. He remembered…he remembered the voices and whispers and appearances that had gone coupled with his degenerating mind.

And he remembered something else. "Team CFVY?" he carefully asked.

' _There is a team called CFVY? What sort of team?'_

"Yes, CFVY. They lived, so don't worry."

"I wasn't worrying."

Yang pushed him and he sluggishly dropped backwards, landing on his back. "I know that," she impatiently said, "but you can at least pretend."

' _But that would be lying.'_

"You're right."

Smiling, Yang pulled him back on his feet again, but he still wasn't allowed to actually stand up. So what was wrong? "Listen to me. Remember what we talked about before the dance? About your partner?"

' _I don't understand.'_

Will shook his head, but it did nothing to make the aching go away. "No, I don't…don't think that-"

"You left Beacon days ago, heading out to find her."

"I had to Yang, she was waiting."

' _I was?'_

"Will! They thought you were going after Ironwood, or start a war on your own. Everybody agreed that it would be for the best if they stopped you."

"I…I kept hearing and…and _seeing_ things. She was always there-"

"But you fought through team CFVY and our team! Ruby stabbed you with Weiss's Myrtenaster and you stabbed her in her shoulder to distract us."

' _You were stabbed? Who is Ruby?'_

"I healed…" he muttered. The room spun again and a bout of dizziness washed over him. "Semblance…Aura...it's all defect…" He lost control over his breathing and a deep form of pressure formed within his chest.

' _Stay focused. You're slipping away.'_

"But why? You trusted me! And you still do, I know you do! We could have helped-"

"No," he said. "I…I had to do this. I had to find her, Yang!"

Yang abruptly pulled away, leaving him alone on the ground. "You're ill. You have been for a while. You're not thinking straight, Will-"

"I had to do it, Yang! She was out there, on her own!"

She scowled and grabbed a fistful of the white jacket that had his arms bound, pulling him to his feet and bringing his face within inches of hers. "She's dead, Will!"

' _I am?'_

"She killed herself!"

' _I did?'_

That…that wasn't right. She was there, with him! "That…that's not…"

Yang continued without mercy, though her expression was soft and filled with sympathy. "One year before you came to Beacon..." She let him go and he fell back to the ground. "And I'm sorry...and we'll do everything we can to help you…but she's gone."

Yang wouldn't lie to him. She was always honest with him but…but she had to be wrong here. There was no other way. She had to be mistaken.

' _Will…I don't remember…'_

"Long ago," he quietly said, staring at Yang without wavering, "She was with me long ago. She…Onyx brought us together. Ancilla…she was with me throughout everything I did but there was no reason for her to do that! She wouldn't!" But even as he said that, he knew that it wasn't true. Not completely. There were nights where she had woken up screaming and crying, begging for… _something_ to stop. But that wasn't this. That wasn't a reason to take your own life, was it?

"That file you and Alice were looking for before Vale was attacked? Alice passed it to Alessa from team LACG, so that she could give it to you. But…you know her, right? She hacked it, but Blake and I stole it back."

The file…of course. Operative "Alice" Mantis, the first one to go AWOL. She had helped him break into an Onyx facility to find that file, but…"The file was encrypted. A hacker would only find black ink."

"Oh believe me, we found black ink alright. But the parts that weren't covered up spoke for themselves." She paused, looking behind her at the open door. "Listen closely, because I won't repeat myself. Are you bleeding?"

' _No.'_

"No," he repeated.

"Good." She brushed a strand of hair out of her face and sat down in front of him, cross-legged. "You haven't made yourself popular in this kingdom, especially not at Beacon."

' _What's a Beacon?'_

"Beacon Academy, a school for training Huntsmen and Huntresses," he said.

Yang frowned. "Uhh…yeah, it's been that for years, including the time you were there. When you took down Coco's group, you showed that you aren't afraid of hurting the people who are your allies."

' _Wait, you hurt good people again?'_

"They stood in my way…" his vision blurred for a few moments and he groaned. "I…I had to fight them, don't you see? I had to get past them!" Voices echoed through his head, different from hers.

"And team RWBY then? You attacked first!"

She didn't sound accusing, yet Will couldn't help but feel that she resented him for what he had done. "I didn't want to…but I had to, why can't you understand?"

"Will! You're not thinking straight! You and everybody associated with Onyx have been branded war criminals. It doesn't matter to the people out there what the circumstances were!" Another pause, before she continued on a softer tone. "We want to help you, but you have to let us. Ozpin won't cast you out of Beacon because he understands that your mind isn't…isn't in the right state now."

' _So we are at this Beacon place now, right?'_

"Yes…" He trusted Yang. He had in the past and he would now. Except…she had it wrong. His mind wasn't wrong. "No."

"What?"

"I'm not insane!" Will snapped. "I'm not!"

Yang's eyes widened in surprise. "I didn't say you were!"

He struggled against his bindings, suppressing the urge to scream. They had him tied up, locked away and left to break. Nobody could see the danger, nobody could feel it approaching! They wouldn't hurt her again –he wouldn't let them! "They're not going to take her! They won't!"

"Hey, hey! Calm down!" Yang snapped, grabbing him by his shoulders and pushing him to the ground.

Things moved behind her, in the opening of the door. Shadows, gathering just outside his ability to perceive. They were coming for him –for them. He needed to get out there and fight, protect them both. Yang didn't see it! They were going to hurt her too! "Yang!" He kicked with his legs and struggled to rise against her grip, but she did not budge. "It's here, behind you! Look damnit!"

She hesitated briefly before turning around to look over her shoulder. "What?"

The room grew cold and the moving figures in the door-opening grew still. "Let me go –I can….I can help!"

"There's nothing there. Are you sure you're…you know…you?"

Not…not there? But they had been right behind her, he had seen them!

Yang's arms relaxed and she sat down next to him, still keeping one arm around his shoulders. "Can you remember going to the North, with us? The expedition?"

The expedition…ice and snow…laughter. He had had moments where he had safe and comfortable. Fleeting moments that he cherished. "We did arm wrestling…"

"I kicked your ass at arm wrestling," she said with a smile. "Alright, get this. You've been seeing and hearing things back then too. And that's alright, anyone would. But if you allow us to help you, we can find out what's wrong."

There was nothing wrong with him! "They'll hurt her."

"Damnit, would you just –just understand! At the very least we need to check if you healed properly."

"Why?"

"Why? Because a Semblance is never just healing and that alone. Professor Adamant told us that regeneration is not viable because it can't be controlled. IF you break a bone, it will heal wrong. If you get an infection in an open wound and it closes up again, you're screwed. So just let the doctors check-

The second she mentioned the word "doctors", a searing lance of pain shot through his head. Someone screamed and he gasped in shock as an image flickered across his eyes, disappearing a split-second later. The pain did not though.

"D-doctor…?

"Yes. Medical staff. Now you can either be a good boy and behave or you can stay here for another few hours." She paused. "I know you can be a good boy."

' _I…I don't follow. What's wrong with our Semblance?'_

She lagged behind a bit. That was alright. He always lagged behind himself. "A medical check-up?"

"Yup."

"Who?"

"Dunno. Either Professor Admant or the medical staff."

"Who else will be there?"

Yang smiled and helped him to his feet. "I can keep an eye on the thing, if you want to."

' _Are we going to be naked?'_

"I would like that."

' _Being naked?'_

He shook his head. "How is Ruby?"

"She's doing better. I'd watch out for Weiss if I were you though."

' _And who is Weiss?'_

"Because I damaged her weapon?"

Yang led him to the exit, where the light was still extraordinarily bright. "Because you damaged Ruby. And you didn't damage Myrtenaster, you broke it into two pieces. Totally different things."

' _Who are these people, Will? Why do you need a med…medic…a health check? What did they do to you?'_

He halted. "They didn't do anything."

Turning around, Yang asked, "Excuse me?"

' _Then who did? Who stabbed you?'_

"It's not like that…it was self-defense."

Yang sighed and grabbed his shoulder, pulling him out of the room with a rough jerk. "Enough talking to yourself, alright? The people won't like it."

' _What people?'_

"Who won't like it?" He asked.

"The teachers, among others. You think Professor Goodwitch won't whip you if you start rambling in her presence? Ozpin is already kinda discredited for keeping you in here and…well, let's be honest here. People are looking for reasons to take you away."

He shook his head. "That's not going to happen."

"Bad choice of words. If you give anyone a reason, it is going to happen."

' _So where will we be going then?'_

He wouldn't allow them to take her. But he was in a very hostile environment now; the people around them wanted to hurt them. They were threats.

He removed threats. "How long was I out?"

Yang shrugged. "A day, maybe twenty hours. We ehm…we found you at the floor of that building and took you back to Beacon. You were bleeding pretty badly. Guess that fixed itself."

"Did you…?" he muttered, soft enough that Yang wouldn't hear it.

' _I don't know…it's all so vague. There's a lot of things going on inside of here now I…I'm hiding from most of it. What happened to me? To us?'_

Will followed his guide through the hallway, but he didn't get more than two steps before she suddenly whirled around and stepped close to him.

"What-?"

"First a little payback," she said with a sly grin, getting too close to him for comfort. Will caught the faint glimmer of a reflection before his mind, though sluggish and dulled as it was, got what it was, a second before Yang slammed the knife against his stomach.

Ancilla screamed and he gasped, surprised at the suddenness of her move. "Please don't do that again."

"That's taken care off," Yang said, cutting his arms free from the strange jacket. "Oh, right. Forgot about the whole jumpy-thing." Again she ruffled his hair. "Sorry."

"I'm…I'm not jumpy…" he muttered with indignity as he rolled with his shoulders, easing his stiff muscles.

' _What was that! Is that normal now?'_

"Call it what you want. Twitchy, jumpy, on edge, shell-shocked."

' _Angels don't carry knives, do they?'_

The hallway still felt too hot for his comfort, but he could bear with it. What he could not bear was being unable to reply to his partner; though his head was still vague, he remembered countless conversations with her. "Where did you get the knife?"

"That? It's yours. Or…used to be yours. Beacon sorta had to confiscate your stuff. JNPR tried to save what they could, but…going against General Ironwood's wishes is a bit difficult."

Ironwood? He knew that name…he had heard it before. Thinking about it did strange things to his body; it felt warmer and a little sick in its stomach. Like someone was about to die.

' _I take it you know the guy if he has you so angry?'_

Angry…that was it. Hearing Ironwood made him feel angry. "My scroll?"

"Jaune found it and hid it when the Atlas soldiers came."

' _That's a relief. What is a scroll again?'_

Will felt the desire to slam his fist into something. "Why take my things?"

With a shrug, Yang said, "Because if you even had a pencil you would kill someone with it."

"That's-"

"According to them, it's true. And let's face it: if we were stopped by a bunch of Atlas soldiers right now, and they demanded you go with them, what would you do?"

' _That sounds like a trick question. We obviously can't kill them, because they're the good guys. Atlas soldiers have always been the good guys.'_

"No killing…nonlethal takedowns only." That meant strategically breaking one to two limbs per soldier, or creating concussions strong enough to render them unconscious. But…if they attacked him, that made them threats. Threats had to be eliminated, they just _had_ to be. Those were the rules. Why was it so _hot_ in here?

Yang crossed her arms. "I'm not going to insult you by telling you that I understand. I wouldn't like it if people did that to me either. But the shit you've pulled…the shit _Onyx_ has pulled…that's enough to cause wars."

' _But that's not fair! You…we did good things! We saved people, we kept lives safe!'_

He didn't want to cause war. He only ended them. "I'm sorry…I can't concentrate…"

"That's fine. You can have all the time to recover once you get yourself checked up. Ozpin wanted to talk to you too, so…take a pick." Yang started walking again and he blindly followed her, trying to come to terms with himself.

His limbs were a bit too shaky for his tastes. Twitchy, jumpy? Was that what she had meant? If so, he should be feeling that, right? But he wasn't feeling anything. He didn't feel his legs at all. But that was just because the floor was so blurry-

Something hard and massive slammed against his head and he sighed, relishing in the pain as it temporarily sharpened his senses and made the heat in his head go away. People yelled his name and exhaustion washed through his limbs, all of which he could feel once more. Good.

"Hey, you alright?"

Will blinked a few times, spotting creeping shadows of twisted figures dancing across the ground. Which was oddly positioned.

' _Hello, Remnant to Will? You there?'_

He grunted and placed his hands against the ground, pushing himself up. He felt someone wrap an arm around his waist and pull him back to his feet. That was the good form of warmth.

"Damn, it's worse than they thought…"

He blinked several times and found that his breathing was irregular. He took another deep sigh and said, "Sorry, wasn't watching…" his muscles slacked and his sentence stalled, forcing him to shake his head again. Which words had he been using again? "Watching where I went."

Yang looked at him with more worry than he had seen in her eyes before. "This ehm…is not very good."

' _Hey…you're being a bit…bad. In your head. A lot of gaps. What did you do after we…parted ways?'_

"A lot." He could address this later, right now he wanted to be certain that there wasn't an immediate threat to her. "Where was Ozpin, you said?"

"Look, the Headmaster can wait. You need to get checked out now!"

"No." This was not a liability to him yet and he refused to become one. He had to stay focused. "Later."

' _I really think you should let someone look at our head later. Remembering nothing is kind of bad. Did we suffer brain damage?'_

"No! I…maybe. Ozpin needs to know the truth. Onyx will be after us now."

"Ignoring the fact that you still talk to yourself, why would Onyx be after you? You basically worked for them your entire life."

"Because –listen, let's just get to Ozpin. I want to get this over with. "

Yang groaned. "You stubborn idiot. I thought you got over that whole self-damaging stage?"

' _Excuse me? What stage? Wait, tell me later. Just…repeat after me.'_

And he did. "I just want to know where we're standing. No more conflicts."

She eyed him with suspicion, not particularly looking like she was going to take him to the Headmaster. "That doesn't really sound like you."

' _Wait, she knows what you sound like? What…what did you do with her?'_

At that moment, Will didn't really know what "you" was supposed to be. He'd find out eventually though. Everything was alright now. "I'll visit the med bay later."

After a few seconds of hesitation on Yang's part, she agreed. "So what else is new?"

Was that a question to him? "So how is Vale dealing with rebuilding?"

"That's a complicated story…"

* * *

 **Beacon Academy, 18:38, Headmaster's office.**

The door was shut tight enough to allow only whispers to occasionally escape from the office, too vague to understand. The rest of team RWBY would soon join her in her what had to be yet another conversation with the Headmaster himself. It had to be unusual for first-year students to have so much contact with the head of Beacon Academy, but it did not necessarily need to be negative.

There were not that many things that Blake considered to be negative during her stay with Beacon. Sure, she had had her fair share of conflicts and fights…and wounds…moments of great emotional distress…uncertainty about her own survival...

…actually, there were many things that Blake considered negative during her stay with Beacon. She had felt days of uncertainty regarding her status with her teammates, she had felt so much frustration and anger towards the foolish and ignorant people wandering around the campus that she had been forced to take her leave a few times and she had even felt genuine hate when it turned out that someone they had initially trusted was responsible for one of the worst acts of violence against her kind in years

Two years ago, a group of Faunus consisting out of White Fang sympathizers and members had been attacked and killed in the middle of what was supposed to be a protest against one of the larger SDC factories. A peaceful protest, without intent of attacking .Twenty good Faunus had lost their lives that die, killed by one, supposedly single operating gunman. She had lost friends that day

And as it turned out, that same person had been staying with them at Beacon for weeks. She had been sorely tempted to take his life then and there, but in the end she had not done it. She had been unwilling, but also unable, to do so.

Later, it turned out that her perspective of the world was not what she had thought it to be. Lies, false reports, eye-witnesses and even claims by the government all pointed at a different situation. While the general picture of the population was still that a group of innocent people had died, the truth had been…darker. And Greystone had personally said that the group was armed and ready for war.

Still she couldn't help but feel uncomfortable around him. Around most of them. All of those affiliated with Onyx…she loathed them all. And she had to work with them. It was complicated.

But Ruby had taught her to look past the faults of other people. Take them for who they were and let their actions decide for them.

So what did that say about Beacon Academy and its less-than-competent timing at matters? They had already _been_ to Ozpin's office already, so why was there even a need to go again? Who decided such things anyway? The Headmaster himself? His staff?

Or had there been another incident that required their attention? It was the downside of being so deeply involved with so much of the Kingdom's problems, so she wouldn't rule out the possibility that something else had come up.

It was always one thing after another…

A minute or two later, Weiss and Ruby appeared as well, looking flustered and somewhat out of breath.

"Good evening to you," Blake said, barely managing to suppress the smugness in her smile. It was adorable of her teammates to think that they could hide their affection of each other from her. "Where did you come from?"

"Dormitories," Ruby replied, seemingly without realizing that their dorms were not that far away from Ozpin's office.

"Right, I forgot. You two wanted to take care of something, right?"

"Of course," Weiss said with her trademark annoyed tone. "And what did you find in the library, hmm? Help for your homework?"

"Something like that." Okay, she had not expected Weiss to push back.

"So why does Ozpin want to see us again?" Ruby then asked, perhaps realizing the perils of continuing this conversation. "And where's Yang?"

"You don't know? She's your sister."

"She's _your_ partner!"

Blake shrugged. "I think she was going to visit someone-"

"Ooh!" Ruby exclaimed with a higher-pitched voice than she normally used whenever she had figured out something clever. "I know why Ozpin wants to see us!"

"No kidding," Weiss said, giving her partner a stern look. "And why would that be?"

"Yang _is_ visiting someone, because she received that message the he was awake! And Headmaster Ozpin would at least want to verify whether he is a danger to Beacon or not!"

"You're joking," Weiss replied with another dose of sarcasm. "Because stabbing Ruby, nearly killing team CFVY and generally killing people who look at him funny make him a threat?"

"You forget him destroying Myrtenaster."

There was no arguing with that logic. "And thank you for that."

"Weiss! He saved Yang's life in the North. He saved my life!" Ruby then said. "What would you have done in his place?"

Were Blake's ears deceiving her, or did she truly hear footsteps approaching them?

"I truly doubt I would still be alive had I been in his place. But that's the point, isn't it? Onyx has never been about morals. And it will never be!"

The footsteps were getting closer now, there was no doubt about that. Two persons…who?

"Weiss…this isn't about Onyx anymore! This is about helping a friend in need! You read that file, didn't you? You saw the newscast!"

"Which is precisely why I think you should take it easy now! It is too dangerous. Think it through!"

Blake turned around when two people came around the far corner, bringing an abrupt end to their conversation. She immediately recognized the first person, as few people on Beacon could miss the long, blonde hair of Yang Xiao Long. It took her a few moments to realize just what her partner had been doing in the meantime and when she did, she had to fight to resist the urge to immediately scold the girl.

"Is that who I think it is?" Weiss asked with a surprised voice.

"Yes!" And then Ruby was gone, having left only a handful of scattering rose petals. Not even a second later she had flung herself at Will, clinging to him like she hadn't seen him in years. Her momentum nearly flung him to the ground, but Yang was just standing there with satisfied smile on her face, so had to be alright.

"Is that a straitjacket?" Blake cautiously asked Weiss, watching the leader of team RWBY snuggle her newest victim to death. Hadn't he taken Myrtenaster straight through his abdomen recently?

"I guess so. They must have finally decided that something is wrong with him."

Blake sighed. "It's sad though. Things were finally looking up."

"Yes, well things are _always_ looking up when everything goes wrong, don't they?" Weiss sneered. "Need I remind you of the day you ran away after our stupid argument? Or the dance party, which resulted in the destruction of the CCT? Perhaps stopping Torchwick from flattening you and Sun before Onyx intervened and made it clear that they were more interested in that stupid girl rather than the terrorist? Face it Blake! Happiness is still far away."

"Please don't say it like that…you remind me of her."

"Who?" Weiss snapped.

Ruby finished choking Will to death and was now scolding him for his irresponsible behavior and general unhealthy lifestyle. It probably wouldn't stick with him.

"The woman. You know which one."

"What, that fetishistic little wench? We'll get to her, Blake."

"I know…"

"So!" Weiss then loudly said, seemingly having decided that their argument was over. She had her hands on her hips and her expression was particularly feisty. "Have you finally eased up?"

Will looked at her with an odd look. "Weiss Schnee, Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company," he seemingly said to himself, despite having known her for months. "Your skirt is not properly attached."

"What!" Weiss shrieked before quickly reaching for the piece of clothing. "After everything that happened, _that_ is the first thing you have to say? You intolerable-!"

Apparently, words could not express what she wanted to say, so she fell quiet in the end. Blake couldn't help but wonder why Weiss of all people would not get properly dressed before meeting Ozpin. Just had she and Ruby been doing?

On a gentler note, he asked, "how are you doing?"

"Wonderful!" Weiss bit at him, angrily crossing her arms. "I was not the moron who acted on his own selfish desires to get himself speared on my weapon, which you _broke_ , by the way."

After a few seconds of awkward silence, Will said, "So you're fine?"

Once more, words failed to serve their purpose for Weiss Schnee, as she simply settled for burying her head in her hands and groaning with frustration.

"Why are you here?" Blake asked. "I mean, it's good that you're walking and all, but Ozpin asked for us." That last part was directed at Yang.

"Yeah, that's the thing, remember? Ozpin wanted to speak to him the moment he was capable of forming coherent sentences and I don't see any other team escorting him to his office, do you?"

No, she did not. "Neither do I see Ozpin simply talking with him over what happened. He-" she stopped herself and glanced at the Operative, who was more interested in what the wall next to the door looked like. "We don't know what will happen now." When she heard footsteps approaching them from inside the Headmaster's office, she added, "But we're about to find out."

The door swung open and Will hastily jumped backwards, reaching for a weapon that was not there. Yang placed a hand on his shoulder and he looked at her for a second before lowering his hands.

"Team RWBY?" Professor Glynda Goodwitch said as she held the door open. "You may enter now."

All five of them filed inside of the office and the door fell close behind them. The very moment that Professor Goodwitch laid eyes upon Will, Blake knew that there would be trouble. Her green eyes widened and she scowled with such uncontained anger that everybody in the room took a step backwards. Only once before had Blake seen such an expression on the face of her teacher –at the climax of their foodfight- and this time, it was serious to boot.

"You!" she snapped and raised her riding crop, taking two large strides towards the Operative.

Team RWBY instinctively moved, together. Not to stop the Professor from doing her thing, but to ready themselves to incapacitate their friend in a moment's notice. They had experienced his ingrained reaction to what he perceived as a threat too many times –and Blake was not willing to let anyone else get hurt due to his delusions.

Strangely enough, Professor Goodwitch seemed to intimidate Will so much that his expression shifted to one of fear and alarm, and he quickly took a step back as well. That was new.

"Do you have any idea how much trouble you are in, mister?" She never seemed to raise her voice, even though she had to be completely furious. That was perhaps the scariest part about her. "You have definitely crossed a line yesterday! And why, _why_ are you walking around freely? That straitjacket was not just for the protection of those around you!"

"My bad," Yang awkwardly admitted. "I kind of cut him loose."

Not even the prospect of a disobedient student could distract Goodwitch from her tirade. "I have no clue as to what you were thinking, but I can assure you that such behavior will not be tolerated any longer!"

Did the good Professor have any idea just _who_ she was talking to about behavior? In his strange little mind, his behavior was probably completely normal.

"No, she's real," The boy muttered, his eyes glazed over for a few seconds. He seemed…distracted. Why was he still talking to himself? "I apologize for the problems I have caused, ma'am. I was not looking to cause an incident."

His response took Professor Goodwitch aback, but she recovered rather fast. "Well, you are extraordinarily lucky that General Ironwood was not in the direct vicinity when you hit his outpost-"

"Their outpost, ma'am."

He did not just interrupt her. Even he couldn't be that oblivious.

The teacher readjusted her glasses, staying surprisingly calm. "I beg your pardon?"

"It was an Onyx outpost, ma'am. I was not after Iron- after the General."

Headmaster Ozpin had been listening to their entire conversation without so much as raising an eyebrow, but when he stood up from his desk, Blake knew that the conversation had reached a point of distinct interest for him. "And why would you target a facility of the same organization that you have been so deeply involved with for such a long time?"

"Personal matters, sir."

"It would be my guess that privacy means little to you. Would you mind sharing these…personal matters?"

That felt a bit like a low blow to Blake. Was that really necessary?

"It is complicated, sir."

Alright, perhaps it was. Did his voice just trail off at the end there?

"I can assure you that I have experienced a lot of complicated events the past few years of my life, even before I ever knew about Onyx."

"Professor Ozpin, if I may?" Ruby interjected, smiling even though the situation was not even remotely funny. It was her way to defuse the situation before it could grow any worse. "Will went to that facility to look for something important to him."

"Miss Rose," Professor Goodwitch said as she pinched the bridge of her nose, "the reasons for Operative Greystone's actions are irrelevant for this situation. We have a detailed medical account and a testimony given by Commander Yale of Onyx. If you could please remain quiet-"

"Professor Ozpin, permission to speak?" Will suddenly said, blatantly ignoring the tensions around him.

The Headmaster raised his eyebrow. "Of course. My students do not require permission to speak their minds and neither do you."

The boy blinked a few times, no doubt confused about Ozpin's words. "Sir. I would like to go down to the city, if possible. There's something I want to see."

Yang sighed and Ruby winced. Even Glynda Goodwitch did not know how to reply to that, while the Headmaster simply shook his head and reached for a paper file. Did he not know what was going on? What they were talking about? Was he that far gone?

"I don't think that's a good idea now," Yang kindly said. "The city is a dangerous place now. There's a new police unit down there and they aren't very nice."

"That's alright," Will replied with a voice that sounded too sincere to not be creepy. He even smiled, which he normally never did. "I can get past them."

"I am afraid you will do no such thing," the Headmaster then said. "You see...we have a bit of a conundrum on our hands. Most transgressions might lie in the past now, but you did attack students of mine on several occasions. Not only that, I believe that your allegiance proves that you can not simply walk around on your own. I realized that you might react better to people you like and trust than guards or soldiers, but nonetheless you are here for a reason. You and I have not talked since those classified dossiers were published around the Kingdom. You do remember that, do you not?"

"Yes sir. It was Cassandra Tyrian. She took those files and spread them."

"That may be. Do you remember what was in those files?"

"Secret operations…mission logs…personal information on myself and Alice, sir."

Ozpin nodded. "Was this information truthful?"

Will remained silent.

"Was it?"

"Yes. Sir."

Ozpin leant back in his chair and observed the boy in front of him for a few moments. "What do you see when you look in this room?"

Looking around for a few moments, Will replied, "A door. A set of windows. Gears in the roof with enough openings to fit through and an enemy combatant."

Possible ways to escape and Professor Goodwitch. It was a good thing that she did not understand that last one.

Ozpin chuckled. "Alright. Now…do you or do you not still work for Onyx?"

He then proceeded to creep them all out once more. "I found her again, sir. I've been looking for her for months and months and finally I found her."

"Will-" Yang attempted to stop him from talking, but the Headmaster gestured for her to stay silent and she did.

"So?"

"They never wanted me to. They always hated it when I brought it up. Good soldiers get fed, bad ones get hurt. When they saw that their pain became irrelevant, they sent us away. They will come after her. I won't let them."

"That's alright," Ozpin said, perhaps realizing how unstable the Operative had become. "But they will not be the only ones to come after you. General Ironwood is not willing to let crimes of war slide…and with good reason. People may come here to try and take you away. Good people with good intentions. I may not be able to sway them at first. As much as I hate saying it, your existence is something that must be addressed in their eyes."

Blake saw Will's face change and she instinctively reached for her weapon. She had seen that expression before and it had gone coupled with attempted murder. Or self-defense. Destruction. His eyes grew dull and the corners of his mouth dropped somewhat. "If they are threats, they should be neutralized."

"She's not real, Will," Ruby quietly said. "Whatever you hear…or even see…it's not there."

Professor Goodwitch sharply inhaled and opened her mouth to say something, but Ozpin raised his hand and she fell quiet again. "Before I address team RWBY on their own, Operative Greystone, I must know. Whose side are you on?"

Whose side was he on? Would he not even try to address the issues that both Ruby as Yang had raised?

"I fight for mankind," Will instantly replied, straightening his back and raising his head. "Then he hesitated and looked down again. "No…that's not right. I fight for the innocent. And…" he looked around and glanced at Ruby. "I fight what's right."

"And who decides what is right and what is not?" Ozpin pointed out. "Can you make that decision? Do you possess that judgement?"

"No. But Ruby does."

It grew very quiet in the office as everybody turned to look at the young leader of team RWBY, who awkwardly rubbed her arm. "No need to stare, everybody knows who Ruby is… "She said.

But that answer seemed to satisfy Headmaster Ozpin, as he nodded and gestured at the door. "Thank you. You will be shown the way to your dormitory as soon as I am done addressing my next points. You may leave."

Will nodded. "Yes sir." On his way out, he turned to glance at Yang, who visibly winked at him.

Blake wondered what this would mean for team RWBY. Being responsible for him was more than an entire military organization could handle, let alone the four of them. But maybe…just maybe Ruby could manage it. After all, she had pulled their team through worse than what an entire military organization could handle already.

* * *

"So for all intents and purposes, this meeting will not require any more homework than a paperback collection of tactics and ideas on how to best the following threats to Beacon Academy. Are there any questions?"

The auditorium was silent. The collective students from years one through four knew better than to interrupt what had to be their most important college up to now. After all, when would they get another chance to find out about the monsters that had nearly destroyed their city? Jaune knew that he was not willing to bet on that.

"Very well then," Professor Peter Port continued, reaching for the small remote on the desk in front of him. All eyes then turned to the massive white image behind him, which warped and changed when he pressed a button. "Let us start with the first one we discovered. I believe it was team RWBY from the first year which discovered this atrocious creature. Now, their mission assignment…"

"Where is team RWBY anyway?" Ren quietly asked as the Professor explained the circumstances of the appearance of the Grimm. "Shouldn't they be here too?"

Jaune shrugged. "I like to think that they have something very important to do, because missing this? Not very handy."

"…and the village, just outside the safe boundaries of our beloved Kingdom, was soon to be attacked by a horde of Beowolves. They set out to evacuate the village to prevent having to fight in an urban environment while protecting civilians. They split up and that was when Miss Rose and Miss Schnee encountered this creature."

More than one team gasped with shock and surprise when the white screen showed the image of the cold and ruthless Tormentor, among the most feared of the Creatures of Grimm. Its limbs were long and elongated and its claws were longer than the dark fingers they were attached to. All thirty feet of the monster were completely covered with smooth, black skin, up to the very tip of its whiplike tail.

He recognized it. He had fought it during the Breach; the First Battle of Vale. The picture seemed to have been taken in the middle of the fight, as the Grimm was in the process of tearing a building with hiding civilians apart.

"The Tormentor, as officially indexed by my colleague Professor Matthew Adamant, is one of the most dangerous forms of Grimm on the battlefield. A question?"

Someone in the back of the hall had raised their hand; some guy with silver hair. "It doesn't have a face. Is this image authentic?"

Port inhaled and his already massive belly expanded even further. "This image was taken during the fight here in our very city. I can assure you, young man, that the lack of facial traits is not an error in our documentation. The anterior region of its head seems to be covered with thick, black plates, easily ruptured by fire or explosives, but nonetheless concealing the true nature of its sensory organs. During the conflict between team RWBY and the first organism, repeated firepower directed at its head revealed four identical slit in its skull, where yellow eyeballs seem to reside."

"Seriously?" Jaune muttered. "Did we encounter that too?"

Pyrrha shook her head. "No. At least not yet."

"Though unsettling, this is nowhere near the true ability of this creature of Grimm. You see, this Tormentor is capable of a feat that rivals the innate ability of masters in the use of Aura; it regenerates from any and all injuries afflicted to it."

That seemed to cause the necessary fuzz; half of the present students broke into noisy conversations and discussions about the possibility of the Grimm being able to regenerate. A feat that, as Port had handily pointed out, was nearly impossible to replicate for normal humans.

Jaune remembered a conversation with Professor Adamant about the viability of rapid healing. Apart from cuts and bruises, which were superficial and only temporarily, deeper wounds required a focus and concentration that a person in middle of a fight was unable to muster. Not only that: wounds had, in theory, a very big chance of healing wrong due to regeneration. Bones would need to be broken again to be set in the right position…nasty stuff. And that was even without the idea of infections and bacteria.

Well, the basic idea was that proper regeneration was not viable. He remembered that, because it had been the day he had learnt the meaning of the word "viable".

"So how do we kill it?" Cardin from team CRDL yelled above the noise, getting most of the students to focus on the matter at hand.

"Well mister Winchester, since you ask, we have yet to see a confirmed kill on a Tormentor. The one encountered by team RWBY would later retreat into the woods after a vicious battle with Professors Goodwitch, Adamant and Johnson, as well as cleaning lady Braunschweiger, reinforced by first-year team JNPR to come to RWBY's aid."

Jaune felt his chest swell with pride. Despite the grave nature of this gathering, the older students were still allowed to know that his team was fully capable of executing high-risk missions as well as saving lives. Good of Port to mention them.

"And later, when Professor Adamant bought the rest valuable time to get the remaining civilians out of there, later to be reinforced by team LACG. The second encounter, probably more known to you, featured the first wide-open conflict with the Tormentor species. After Onyx bombarded large swaths of the city, this one too disappeared in the chaos. Now…there is something I should mention to all of you. Regeneration is not what makes this being so powerful and neither is it why it is named such."

Port's voice grew calmer and quieter with every word he spoke, until the entire auditorium was silent. Though Jaune knew what was about to come, he still experienced it as brutally unsettling how the normally-jovial and boastful Professor could speak so solemn and serious.

"As you all know, Aura is the manifestation of our souls. It speaks of our feelings, or emotions, or thoughts…it is our innermost sanctum, intertwined with who we are and what we will be." He halted, glancing across the seats. "This Grimm is capable of invading and subsequently…dominating the mind and soul of whoever it looks at, as some unfortunate souls have found out during the fight. It will prey upon feelings and memories and will even resort to cause crippling pain in order to incapacitate its foe. This is not a creature to be trifled with."

Jaune raised his hand, despite feeling pretty sure that he already knew the answer. "Professor?"

"Yes?"

"Is there a way to…resist…this thing?"

"Hmmm…during the fight, several combatants defended against its mental effects by avoiding direct contact with it. And…during the first engagement, an Onyx Operative that had been stalking team RWBY performed adequately in defending Miss Schnee and Miss Rose from the beast by force of will. Those with a disciplined mind or a steeled heart can resist the creature's power."

That wasn't really reassuring. Those involved with Onyx weren't as much trained as they were utterly conditioned. Of course they would have a steeled heart –they used it to murder enemy combatants as well as innocent women and children. During the Breach, one Tormentor had taken out Coco Adel from team CFVY by simply glancing at her for a few seconds. There had been other circumstances as well, but…

"But rest assured," Port continued, "that we will find a way to destroy these beings for good. Moving on to the next one…"

The white background warped and changed into another familiar monster. One with a long, elongated head and six massive attached to a beetle-like body.

"Covered with white plates of armour and larger than most buildings, this specimen was responsible for the immense damage that was done to the city's infrastructure. In another strange display of the powers of the Grimm, this "Juggernaut" as it was named has proven to possess the ability to grow immune to all damage done to it."

Again the entire auditorium burst into an uproar as the students started talking and shouting through each other, raising their voices to get noticed.

It was no wonder why. A Grimm that could grow immune to damage? Only because Beacon had encountered that thing during the expedition to the North could Jaune keep himself calm. To hear their suspicions get confirmed like that…why was it only team RWBY that encountered these things? First during their mission to that village, later in the North? Granted, they all encountered freaky things that day. Team LACG managed to stumble into an underground Onyx research facility and team JNPR had had found the remains of a city that had been wiped out during the very first Grimm wars, which had concealed the safehouse of a very nasty piece of work.

Now that he actually thought it through, Jaune wished that it had been his team that had encountered the Grimm first. Perhaps they might have been able to do it more permanent damage.

"Please calm down everybody," the Professor exclaimed. "I realize that this news is most distressing, but try to stay focused. The creature is not invulnerable-"

That was a big lie. The longer the fight dragged on, the more invulnerable the thing got.

"-it only grows immune to types of damage it receives. For instance: the Atlesian gunships that supported us during the conflict were able to punch through the creature's armour, but in time, their rounds ceased to harm it. Cuts, lacerations, blunt damage and even explosions would later prove more ineffective as time went on. This being grows adaptive immunity to types of damage. The key to defeating the Juggernaut lies in inflecting huge amounts of damage in a very short time."

Cardin raised his hand again. "So how do we take this one out then?"

Professor Port hesitated, which was something that the entire hall seemed to pick up on. Everybody knew how the last Juggernaut to appear had been destroyed. "During the Breach, the present students managed to lure it to the docks, where allied naval ships managed to lure it further into the ocean. Then, Onyx bombarded it with high-yield thermobaric explosives." He inhaled again and proudly added, "Not a single piece of it was found again and they later sent divers to search for its remains in the ocean. This engagement proves that, no matter the odds, one must never give up. The Juggernaut that our forces engaged during the fight was the largest specimen of Grimm to have ever shown itself like that and we destroyed it."

Yay for high-yield explosives then. Onyx had since been declared an enemy of Vale and all of its supplies, manpower and funds with it. What would happen if ground forces encountered more of these things? How would Huntsmen and Huntresses in the field beat one?

"Now, the last species of Grimm I want to discuss today has yet to be named. For reasons I shall explain later, this one has been unofficially dubbed the Leader-Grimm. Now, for years scientists have tried to discover what makes the creatures of Grimm behave like they do. Unsuccessfully, I might add. Some have proposed a sort of hivemind-like control within their ranks, others have declared that the elder forms control them. As of a few days ago, this issue seems to have been resolved."

The white projection changed once more as the Juggernaut warped into something else. Jaune had not personally seen how the Leader-Grimm looked from up close, but he had caught glimpses of it during the fight. It was slim and human-like, yet it looked more like a mini Tormentor than a human. It's tail was longer than its main body was and its limbs could have been human, had they not ended in sharp nails instead of fingers. And the black substance that made up its skin, of course.

"While physically the least threatening and also the least capable of dishing out damage to our defenders, this individual specimen was swiftly declared to be a priority to take out in the fight. It displayed the ability to…how do I put this…boost the intelligence and capability of the Grimm around it. It directed the Tormentor to take out the more powerful defenders, while at the same time sending the Juggernaut straight towards the direction of Beacon Academy. The hordes of Beowolves would show advanced tactics, the Ursai would band together and flank and surround lone fighters and even the Nevermores would divebomb the formations of soldiers that attempted to evade the glance of the Tormentor."

For the third time Cardin raised his hand. "So how do we kill-"

"Easy," Port said, cutting him off. "This one displays no better defenses than a simple Alpha Beowolf. For all its intelligence and cunning, it was still taken out when cornered. A rather vicious Faunus girl ripped its head off when the creature had thought her to have died by impalement. This shows that, however slim the chances are, there is always a way to victory. Now, I want all the teamleaders to deliver their proposals and tactics on how to deal with these new creatures by the day after tomorrow and then we shall devise stratagems to deal with these Grimm when the time comes. Are there any questions?"

There were many questions. Most of the present students had never fought one of these things before and because of that, what they had heard might have seemed exaggerating or confusing.

One of those questions drew Jaune's attention more than the others, mostly because he had asked that exact same question once before. "Do these Grimm have a Semblance now?"

"No," Professor Port swiftly answered. A bit too swiftly for Jaune's tastes. "These inherent abilities are _not_ related to any form of Semblance nor the Aura-"

"What about the Tormentor? It makes use of your Aura!" Someone else pointed out.

"That is a totally different method-"

And another. "If we can't kill these things, how do we win when we encounter them in the field?"

It was obvious that Port could not control the students very well at the moment. "Remain calm would you all? I will get to answering your questions soon. If you cannot kill the beasts, do the next best thing. You make sure that they won't hurt anyone and remove their presence as best as you can. Think of the examples set in history! Imprison them, lure them away and seal them off! Remember that you can win without destroying your foe. This is the lesson that we learnt in the past and it will be this lesson that we use to win once more!"

Alright, impressive. Jaune didn't think that anyone would want to express doubt after that last reply, but he could still feel that people were afraid. And who wouldn't be? They were basically a bunch of teens fighting invulnerable killing machines. In all encounters, it took timely reinforcements and scathing firepower to even beat back the Grimm.

But they would find a way. As long as he was the leader of team JNPR, he would find a way to make sure his team would survive everything that Remnant threw at them.

One paperback report at a time.

* * *

" _The black Dust is extraordinarily hard to get, few compounds on Remnant are hardy and flexible enough to serve as outer placing and the initial version destroyed the internal organs. Once those problems were solved, the true problem showed itself. As the suit is grafted to the user's nervous system, it also needs to be connected to the mind and Aura. One mind alone will eventually be snuffed out by the ACE system, rendering it useless. A secondary Program was devised to circumvent this issue: the Catalyst Program. Two minds working together can run the suit without risking death or permanent brain damage. Of course, the normal Bonding process that saw use during the years of the Human-Grimm conflict was not sufficient. Two individuals linking their souls nowadays is not unseen, but too shallow and utterly useless for the ACE system. What we needed was a permanent, irreversible link on all levels. Unsurprisingly, this caused a whole new set of problems…"_

 _ **The Augmented Combat Environment: a thesis on the future of mankind pt. I**_


	4. Chapter 4

"W _hen the first human warriors who weaponized Aura discovered that they could link their Aura together to form some mental link, even more tactics became viable for their units. The ability to feel the emotions and feelings of a bonded partner enabled the first Hunters to raise their combat efficiency to new levels. But at the same time, such an empathic bond could easily become their undoing. One's pain was the other's pain, one's distractions would be distractions for the other. And when such an Aura link was unexpectedly severed…well, the results would sure have been catastrophic for the survivor's psyche. "_

" _Such tactics slowly grew outdated, but with the emergence of new Grimm species, people have begun to reach for more and more 'outdated' or 'dangerous' tactics. This allows for more experimentation and test subjects."_

" _Indeed. Since the first generations of Catalysts were such spectacular failures, we will need to implement all improvements we can. As such, Professor Cerulean and I both agree that Procedure 042-Vytal needs to be altered."_

" _Don't you think your predecessors proposed the same? The guild drives everybody crazy, Professors Unless you can propose a viable replacement, the Procedure must remain the same."_

" _We can, sir."_

"… _enlighten me."_

 _-Conversation between General R. Eventide, Professor J. Cerulean and Professor C._ █████

* * *

"It's them!" A second-year girl called, making her way to the front of the terminal where an entire crowd of people was gathering.

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, they're giving a statement!"

"Freaking finally," Yang growled, crossing her arms over her chest with an annoyed expression. A large holographic display had been activated at the podium and thanks to some tinkering from team LACG, that display was now directly linked to what was left of the inter-Kingdom communication. "About damn time."

"I wonder how they will dig themselves out of that massive hole they dug," Weiss remarked. She eyed the holographic table with suspicion, wondering if this would be yet another display complicated politics.

"It's not like they have anything left to lose," Blake replied. A book hung loosely in her right hand, but she seemed too focused on the podium to read it. Always a bad sign. "All of Remnant already hates them."

Ruby was quick to correct her. "Not all of Remnant. Some people actually agree with what they do. Extremists, ex-Hunters-"

"It's starting!" Someone at the front yelled and virtually everyone fell quiet as the holographic table hummed and vibrated, creating a very realistic image of a man with short, black hair and a neatly-trimmed beard. Most of his face was shrouded in darkness –probably for dramatic effect- but Weiss still got the feeling that the spokesman was someone looking down at them. Well, looking down at all of Remnant. This statement was supposed to be worldwide after all.

" _Throughout the course of this long and bitter war, I have been asked… so many times whether I am a man of peace or a man of war. Whether I believe if it has all been worth it or not. When the creatures of Grimm first revealed themselves to mankind, our losses were catastrophic. As the war raged on, so did the body-count. Thousands of dead at the first few hours, hundreds of thousands of dead at the end of the first month. The first Kingdom of Atlas, wiped out. The entire Northern continent, overrun. Our kind was facing extinction. When we first discovered Dust –and I refer to Onyx when I use the word "we"- the warriors of mankind managed to turn the tide of the war within weeks."_

Weiss could not suppress a small gasp of surprise, but she by far not the only one who was unable to. That statement about Onyx and the discovery of Dust caused such an uproar that the spokesman's next few words were nearly inaudible and Blake had to quietly repeat them for the team to hear.

" _But for all the sacrifices we made, we could not fully protect humanity. The atrocities that were committed during the first Human-Grimm conflict and the losses that we suffered are Onyx's greatest failure. But we regret not the choices that we made to safeguard the future of Remnant. It was the first lesson that the fundamental system you know as "Onyx" learned, after which it established the foundation for the training of Huntsmen and Huntresses in the four safe zones. Our Kingdoms."_

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," Yang whispered. "Those backstabbing assholes invented the Academies?"

Multiple students hushed her or otherwise demanded her silence, but the Onyx representative did not wait for them. " _And just like we did back during the first conflict, Onyx has performed many deeds that could be considered amoral or unethical in our recent two-fronted war. To prevent the Grimm from destroying humanity –to prevent humanity from destroying humanity- sacrifices must be made. We have been asked about our usage of child soldiers in our efforts to contain the corruption of mankind and advances of the creatures of Grimm."_

Finally, they were getting to the root of the problem.

" _The documents that our former scientist, Cassandra Tyrian, spread through Remnant were truthful on that matter. We have used child soldiers in the past, we are using them now and we shall use them in the future. Why, I hear you ask? Ask your leaders. The generals, the teachers, the Headmasters. To relieve the pain of our race."_

"That's crap!" Someone in the back yelled, despite the fact that this was only a message.

"Stop justifying your crimes!"

"You think you're not going to pay?"

" _If you do not agree with this, allow me one attempt to change your mind. An insight in the suffering of our world. Like the Schnee Dust Company that pressures labor forces, stolen from their families and villages, almost always Faunus and prepubescent-"_

" _What_?" Weiss cried.

"-o _r the Kingdom of Atlas, prolonging and causing wars to improve the worldwide economy. Vacuo improving their welfare through human trafficking with Mistral and abiding the various cartels that thrive on the distribution of narcotics or living people. You so-called leaders of the light. Look around you. Humanity is sick. Who will cure it? Not your corruption, nor your evil."_

The transmission cut out, after which the auditorium grew ominously quiet. Thoughts and suspicions shot through Weiss's head, each one starting and ending without any form of context or even sense. She had always had her suspicions about the illegal deeds of her father, but…to have it confirmed on a national broadcast, in front of millions of people? Nothing could have prepared her for that. It was a broken pedestal. And everybody knew.

"Damn," Ruby muttered. "Did not see that one coming."

Onyx's words were slowly starting to seep into the heads of the present students, because the sounds slowly started to return in the form of dozens of dismayed and furious Hunters-to-be expressing their doubts, fears and suspicions to and with each other. With that one speech, all trust that Beacon had been building for the past four years fell apart. People turned on each other, demanding explanations or outright blaming their allies for reasons that Weiss could not comprehend. Did not want to comprehend. All that she wanted right now was to step to her father and demand that he release all his workers and step down from his position at once.

But that man would never listen to her. He did not take feedback well…she could already feel her face flustering again, as if in anticipation of his reaction when she told him off.

"I think we should get out of here," Blake said. She looked around and then quietly added, "Weiss, come on. We're moving."

Several of the Faunus students spotted Weiss and, as if on some unspoken agreement, started to advance on her.

Could she even blame them?

Ruby grabbed her hand and pulled her with her, leading her towards the exit even as other teams made their move. The ruckus behind them fully unleashed into a storm of shouts and demands as the teachers rushed towards their students to calm them.

"They don't have proof," Yang snapped as team RWBY rushed down the hallway. "They're making it up!"

Blake almost immediately replied to her partner, her voice equally as loud. "Yang please! You know they're right. They won't lose face by telling lies and the SDC has _always_ been using cheap labor forces."

She was right. Onyx might spin together one lie after another, but with their public image this damaged? They would never risk telling a lie now. And Weiss knew that too; Remnant's most powerful forces and allies had now been reduced to liars and bullies, impossible to trust in the ever-escalating war with the creatures of Grimm. But why? Why hurt humanity like that? Spite?

"Ah, scroll," Ruby muttered as her skirt started buzzing. "One moment. Ruby here…"

"Schnee!"

"It's crap! All of it! How would Atlas causing war benefit us? Why would the Kingdoms encourage slave trade, huh?"

"Enough Yang! First things first, Ruby-"

Ruby wasn't paying attention. "Yeah, so you're coming? Good. Watch out; people are going nuts."

"Ruby!"

The redhead put her scroll away and looked over her shoulder. The handful of Faunus students were still following them, briskly picking up the pace. Behind them, their teammates were following them, calling their names. "Yeah?"

"Hey, Schnee!"

"Plans, ideas? Anything?"

"Just…wait it out."

"No, Ruby, you're teamleader! What do we do?"

Ruby shrugged. "What can we do? Right now, nothing." She looked over her shoulder again. "Well, almost nothing."

"Face us, Schnee-"

Yang turned around to face the Faunus students that were following them as well, shouting, "Hey assholes, got nothing better to do?" Her eyes shifted blood-red and she clenched her fists, no doubt getting ready to tear the hallway apart.

It didn't look like they had anything better to do. But right now, Weiss honestly did not care for their behavior. They had just found out that her family had been condoning slave traffic of their species. She would have attacked by now if the roles had been reversed.

The students got real close before one of them took a good look at team RWBY, hastily reached for one of the other Faunus and then turned his tail. Literally.

"It's him!"

"What-?"

Within moments, all of them turned around and just walked off back to their teammates, some of them even running. Weiss had a sinking feeling that she knew why a bunch of pissed-off Faunus would just give up on her like that, but when she turned out her heart still nearly skipped a beat. "Will!"

"We've got trouble," the eerily pale-skinned boy said without as much as glancing at the group of students he had just chased off with his appearance alone. Though he had finally seen fit to wear his Beacon uniform, it was impossible to mistake him for anyone else. His reputation was still firmly-cemented in the minds of all students at Beacon; it seemed.

"Where did you come from?" Blake asked as she nervously rubbed her elbow.

"I was heading for the auditorium when I got the message. Listen, we've got trouble. Eventide's just turned Remnant into his playing ground-"

"What was all that about?" Weiss demanded, the shock of her family's darkest secret having been spilled to the public finally taking its toll on her patience and self-control. "Why did they do that? What could Onyx possibly win with this?"

Will glanced at her for a few moments. "A lot. Where is RWBY's room?"

"You know where it is, you've been there!"

"Where?"

"This way then," Ruby said, wasting no time in leading her team away from the hallway. Onyx's public statement had been akin to kicking a hornet's nest; students and teachers alike were in total disarray and even getting to the dormitories of the first-year students was more difficult than Weiss could have imagined. Within mere minutes of Onyx's statement, the entire Academy had broken down in chaos and distrust. Weiss received multiple messages and calls on her scroll in the span of a minute, but she ignored those in favor of something more important.

"What are you doing here?" She asked the Operative as he closed the door to RWBY's dorms behind him. He even went as far as to check for pursuers and lock the door behind him. She would ignore the fact that they rarely ever had boys in her room. "Are you here to give us more trouble? More things to worry about?"

He handed her a small chip, not even bothering to look her in her eyes while he did.

"What are you-?"

"Complicated," he muttered.

"Seriously, what the hell was that?" Yang then demanded. "Is anyone going to tell me what's going on?"

"When they said Onyx would make a statement, I didn't think it would be the kind of statement that would cause a world war," Blake commented. "Any thoughts on that?"

Nothing. The Operative stayed silent. When both Yang as Blake turned to stare at Will, who was completely oblivious and simply tinkering away, Weiss once again had to struggle as not to not verbally lash out at him. Impatient and _frustrated_ as she felt, he did not understand.

"Ehm..Will? You alive in there?" Ruby said, prompting her friend to look up at her with a rather distracted air. He didn't as much as glance at her before he looked back down

"A moment, I'm a bit…can't get the doctors out of my head…"

He went a bit weird there. His voice trailed off and he started staring away at the wall, like there was something of great intrigue to him there. Ruby made a sound and glanced at Weiss, who shrugged. "Excuse me?"

He shook his head and tapped a few more buttons on his wrist-mounted scroll. "Weiss, the chip."

Weiss blinked and looked at the small datachip that he had given her. This had to be the first time he had called her by her name since they had met. It was a bit creepy. Still, she trusted Ruby's judgement. She placed the little chip inside of her scroll and waited until it had processed the new input.

"General Randall Eventide, commander of all Onyx' armed forces in Remnant," he then continued as if nothing had happened. "He serves the Themeluesi directly –and you just saw him on national broadcast."

"So the dude was Onyx's bigshot, like Ironwood?" Yang said.

"No. Ironwood is a pretentious, sad man whose ego outmatches his skills. I could have killed him a dozen times over had she wanted to. Eventide…is a threat."

Weiss scoffed and crossed her arms. "And we all know what happens to threats. Also, I believe the correct word is 'I', not 'she', you dunce." Was it just her, or did Will actually sound somewhat bitter this time?

The boy continued, but not in a sense that could be considered normal. "Yes…no, we met him once. Shortly before the Arcadia-Luna conflict, remember? Yes, the Death-war. It's alright. We all forget things."

Blake drew her weapon and backed off. "I don't think this qualifies as normal," she called. "Ruby?"

Ruby did not respond. Instead, she watched with a slight frown as the Operative continued holding a conversation with himself. "He did not hurt us himself, no." A small pause. "But he made it happen. He, Doctor Greene and the Themeluesi. The rest is dead and buried." He then actually went ahead and grinned –a gesture that was so unlike him that, for a brief moment, Weiss wondered if she should try to disarm him on some way. In whatever way. There was no way that he had already grown out of his suicidal period, right?

But Yang beat her to the punch –quite literally. She bumped Will over his head with the palm of her hand and he nearly stumbled backwards. "What?" He asked, his expression shifting to a confused one.

Weiss felt a shiver run down her back. This behavior was new to her; she could deal with his cold, sociopathic behavior, but unstable business? It was a bit too much. Blake's gesture in pulling her weapon did not seem like a bad idea now.

"Hey," she snapped. "Focus. How did this Eventide just screw over Remnant?"

"Political dissonance," the Operative replied after a few moments of silence. "We knew the SDC worked with slave labor, we _knew_ that Vacuo and Mistral had been condoning human traffic. Onyx forbade us from wiping them all out, but that's different now."

"That's the thing I don't get," Ruby unhappily said. "Why would Weiss's family do that? And Pyrrha's from Mistral, why would they just work with slaves?"

"Because!" Will halted, looked Ruby over for a second and then lowered his voice. "Because…that's how the world is. War brings up the worst in us…and mankind has been at war ever since the Grimm first appeared. The SDC supplies everyone with Dust, while the slaves that Mistral and Vacuo condone, enable them to get the dirty jobs done quickly and efficiently."

"But that's wrong!" Weiss told him. "There is no excuse for what my family does. If they won't put a stop to it, I will! And the Kingdom's-"

"They have no idea what's being done," Will cut her off, staring at her with his uncanny, grey eyes. "You think that their government condones it? That the people know what happens? It's the people who truly rule the Kingdom who take care of that. The corrupt politicians who turn blind eyes, the greedy members of the various armed forces who like the thought of someone doing their dirty work. But the rest of those stupid humans are too blind, too _stupid_ and lazy to see. And so the entire Kingdom is at fault."

"Easy there," Yang said. She grabbed his hand and casually pulled him away from the door before anything could happen. "The glass is always empty with you, isn't it?"

She nearly threw him down on her bed, where he continued without so much as flinching. "Mantis and I, we fought to prevent that from escalating. When I first came to Vale-"

"You mean when you attempted to infiltrate Torchwick's organization to capture his supposed leader?" Blake corrected him. She had not yet placed her weapon away. "Destroying multiple structures and places of Beacon's interest in the process?"

"-I fought to keep this Kingdom pure. That too. Onyx removed dangerous or corrupt elements from Vale." He paused. "Weiss, the chip."

"Right, fine. Ease up," Weiss offhandedly said as she loaded the single file that the chip seemed to contain. "Wait…what's this?"

"They've tolerated most of the common evil in the world because they had better things to worry about," Will continued with an even voice. "But now what the world is being so _petty_ in ostracizing them, they're going to be petty in return."

"Weed out the corruption," Ruby whispered. "They're going to wipe out everybody associated with the crimes they tolerated for so long."

The file was a single combat report of an ambush…no, multiple ambushes, all on SDC mines. Seven mines had been attacked by unknown armed forces, which had wiped out all security forces and freed the workers. The death toll reached the triple digits.

"What?" Yang exclaimed. "They're going to attack? When all of Remnant knows what crimes they themselves committed? Does Onyx want war?"

"They would win it," Will commented. "They've got more resources than the four Kingdoms combined can deliver. Remember that they've been doing this since we discovered Dust." He halted. "Since they discovered it."

Weiss put the file away again, not knowing what to feel. She was terrified about the concept of her family's business being threatened with total annihilation, but she also felt a grim sense of satisfaction that there were some people that her father could not bully into doing his will. He was being outmaneuvered on all fronts and his brutal attitude couldn't save him. However, that thought alone was enough to make her feel miserable and disgusted with herself. As the Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, she was supposed to find a way to properly protect and guide the company –and not stand by as their members were being slaughtered.

Above all though, she felt betrayed. Why would anyone just shove this in her face like this? Even Frost wouldn't do that. "And what is this supposed to be?" she demanded, interrupting her team's discussion. "Is this your idea of a joke?"

"A report," Will replied without batting an eye. "I thought you would be interested-"

"Oh, you thought it would interest me? How _thoughtful!"_ Weiss spat. "What, did you think everybody was as messed up as you are? Did you think I would enjoy finding out about this?"

The Operative stood up from the bed and Weiss flinched, wanting to grab the hilt of Myrtenaster. Then she remembered that Myrtenaster was ruined and that the cause was standing right in front of her. "No, I…information is important. If you know what they're doing, it can help-"

"How? How could this help me _at all?_ This is my family company being wiped out!" She yelled, her voice nearly breaking at the end. "Did it not occur to you that I knew these people? That it will be my family next? Haven't you caused enough hurt already?"

Weiss could not see what impact her words had on him. Oh he was confused alright, but beyond that, there was nothing to indicate that she had hurt him in any way. Just another thing that she hated about him.

"Apologies," he slowly said. "I'll leave you be."

Nobody said anything as he left the room and closed the door behind him. Only after a few, silent seconds did anyone speak up.

"You know it's not his fault, right?" Yang softly said while Ruby took Weiss's scroll. "Onyx is our enemy, not him."

"Is it?" Weiss snapped. "Am I just expected to believe that he will go along with us in this? That he won't stab us in the back the moment the voices in his head tell him to?"

"That's a bit uncalled for," Ruby replied as she observed the report on the scroll. "I trust him."

"Well, I don't! If you haven't forgotten, he stabbed you! He nearly gave Blake a concussion and broke Myrtenaster!"

Ruby gave her a glance, but with Blake and Yang around, she couldn't do or say much more than that.

"I'm not going to tell you how to think, but if we want to set this mess right, I think we are going to need him," Blake said.

"We could ask Alice, or even that bird-Faunus-"

"Weiss, these are the Dust mines being attacked, right?" Ruby interrupted her. Not that Weiss cared much about that at the moment –she was prone to impulsively speaking her thoughts. She didn't want to hurt any of her friends.

"Yes."

"It says that slaves are being freed. Dozens of them."

Well, then there was one good thing in this muddle. "I never knew what the Company did!" Weiss exclaimed. She turned to Blake, hoping to avoid another incident like that stupid night, weeks ago. "I honestly didn't!"

"Did you have suspicions?" Blake gently asked, without any trace of hostility or blame in her voice. "Everyone knew the rumors."

"They were just rumors. Everybody thought that my father was responsible for the Dust Hall murders as well, two years back. And it was Greystone."

"Don't call him that," Yang sharply said. "It's not his name and you know it."

Weiss sighed with frustration. This was not what she wanted to focus on. "Fine. And no, I never had reason to suspect he actually did that. And it's good that they're freed. That's great!" She added. "But they are tearing my family apart! They've murdered the complete security detail present at the mines and by publically revealing the Company's business, nobody in the world will bat an eye!"

"I don't think it's that easy," Ruby reassuringly said. "If the people in Remnant need to choose between supporting Onyx or the SDC, I think the majority will choose the side that isn't involved in a scandalous war crime."

"I think the distinction is a bit blurry there," Yang remarked. "I mean, using child soldiers to end wars and save lives isn't the same as willingly using slaves for cheap labor."

Blake scraped her throat. "Cheap labor insinuates wages. Slaves don't get paid."

Yang turned to face her partner, who jumped on top of her bed and lay down. "You are taking this awfully well, Blake."

"Consider the last time we heard about Faunus involvement on the news," she replied. "Compared to large-scaled murder, terrorism and genocide, I think slavery is the mildest we've encountered. And we can help them too."

"Let's back up there, shall we?" Weiss said. She could feel her temper rising and she was not happy about that. "Yang! You would side with Onyx instead?"

The blonde shrugged. "Just saying. On one side we have an organization that uses child soldiers to prevent and end wars and on the other side we have an organization that uses kidnapped Faunus children to mine Dust. There's a saying that goes with two evils, you know?"

"Actually, remember Frost?" Ruby replied, sitting down on her bed as well. "Kidnapped from the Schnee family when he was eight, unwillingly drafted into their military organization? He could have suffered a painful and lonely death on some foreign battlefield thanks to Onyx. I think that working in a mine with the chance of being freed seems less evil. At least to me."

"Depends on your view of living. Back in the White Fang, there were plenty of Faunus who would rather die fighting than live in slavery."

"Can we please drop this?" Weiss asked. "It doesn't matter who is more 'evil' than the other. How long before Onyx goes after my father? Or…or other family?"

Damn it. Ruby _would_ notice her hesitation.

"Weiss has a point," Blake said. "Onyx will stop at nothing to accomplish their goal."

Weiss didn't want to go back to the Company's halls; she had felt so invigorated. So joyful. Her life of enforced, painful loneliness had come to an end the very second she had been allowed entry at Beacon. But…if her family's life was in danger, what choice did she have? What choice was there but to return to her father's side, if only to protect him? "I think-"

"No," Ruby sharply interrupted her.

Weiss blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You are not going back to the Schnee family to fight Onyx if they come."

How did she even-? Never mind, it was Ruby. And that was arguably the worst about her statement. "And why not? Who are you to tell me what not to do?" The thought of anyone deciding her future for her was enough to drive her furious, even if that person was Ruby.

"Weiss, think. If Onyx decides to come for your father, what difference would you make?"

"Ruby! Are you saying that I can't fight?" Weiss demanded, too shocked to raise her voice.

"Onyx has thousands of well-trained soldiers on their side. Child soldiers like Ash and Cal or, depending on how much bad luck we can get in our lives, people like Will and Alice. One on one? You might win, or you might lose. Against eight of them? That would be like facing two third-year teams at once –teams that would stop at absolutely nothing to kill you."

"Well, what else _can_ I do then? Tell me Ruby!" Weiss shouted, fighting to preserve what little posture she had left. "If I can't do anything for them, what good am I?"

"What would the best for your father?" Blake asked. "My guess would be to keep a few seasoned Hunters as bodyguards while Atlas sorts things out."

That was...actually not that bad of an idea. Could she convince her father to hire bodyguards? Or ask Ozpin if he couldn't do something?

"There's one problem with that," Yang then replied. "According to that Eventide, Remnant is screwing itself over. Atlas causing wars, Mistral allowing human traffic…what did Vacuo do again?"

"Abiding cartels," Blake said with a hollow voice.

"Right."

Weiss didn't know what was worse; the incredible danger that her family was now threatened by, or the completely detached way that Yang was taking this. It was a world falling apart! Communities shattered, trust destroyed –why weren't they taking this more seriously? "Listen," Weiss started. "I don't think you understand the situation –Onyx has just destroyed the bonds that kept Remnant united! They're going to cause war like this!"

"Weiss, you don't take them seriously, do you?" Ruby replied. She jumped off her bed faster than Weiss could follow and the next moment, she felt an arm around her shoulders. "They're lying! Apart from that Company thing, there is no way that they're being truthful!"

"But Will said-"

"Weiss, that's why Yang is being so grumpy-"

"Hey!"

"-sorry. Will thinks that his partner is still alive. Still with him!"

"But…didn't she commit…you know?"

"Yes. Yes she did. And that's the problem. He doesn't know anymore."

"No!" Yang angrily exclaimed. "I just…I just can't see why being unable to let go would cause him to…to be like this. I always thought it was just the PTSD."

"I guess it's a mixture of both?" Ruby suggested. "That's probably why Ozpin didn't address it."

Weiss wasn't sure about all of this, but there was one thing that she needed to be very sure about. "So…even if Onyx attacks the Company…?"

"I guess Atlas, Mistral and Vacuo would step in, yes," Ruby said. "The SDC supplies Remnant with Dust, right? Even if Onyx has their own ways of getting it, the rest of the world doesn't. Nobody would profit from seeing the SDC disappear."

Weiss sighed and lay down on her bed as well. She felt so tired. The stress must be getting to her…"I hope you're right." She sighed and closed her eyes. "Why does this always happen when we think we're done?"

"It kinda feels like a curse," Ruby agreed. "And I want to go to sleep. Because my head hurts. But Weiss? You should probably go talk to Will. Tell him why you got upset."

Weiss snorted. "Right. Like that wasn't obvious."

"To the ordinary observer?" Yang said. "Completely obvious. To him? Not by a long shot. He's gonna be confused for the next three hours."

With a quiet groan, Weiss asked, "Are you serious right now?"

"I don't think he even cares," Blake said from up top on her bed. She had pulled out one of her books and was only paying attention with her ears from the looks of it. "By now, everything he says must tick someone off."

"Gee, I wonder why."

Ruby yawned and jumped back to her bed. "It's still something."

There was probably no escaping this. Fine! She would politely point out to him that he shouldn't be such a social impede. That ought to create some mutual understanding.

But before Weiss could leave team RWBY's dorms, she heard Yang utter a dismayed cry, soon to be followed with an equally dismayed, "Damnit!"

That did not sound good.

"What?" Blake asked.

"Tonight the sessions with the shrink start!"

Weiss turned around, glancing at the blonde with her eyebrows raised. "Excuse me?"

"That psychiatrist woman, the first-year students are scheduled for tonight!"

Great. More individuals whom could psycho-analyze people and manipulate them. At least Ruby did it to help the team –how would this woman even begin to help the dozens of students at Beacon?

"Good, " Ruby replied. "I think we're going to need her."

"Ruby, one of these days it will be our turn!"

"And when that happens, we will all feel a little bit better. Now if you will excuse me, I really need to place the back of my head against a soft pillow. Unless you want to give me yours…?"

"Sure, if you can catch it with your face-"

Weiss shook her head and left the room. Despite the credentials and papers that were no doubt excellent and earned through honest work, this psychiatrist would soon discover that working at Beacon Academy was a little bit more than she could handle. Near-death experiences and other traumatic events would be the least of her worries by far.

Although a simple visit could not hurt. Just to see how it worked.

* * *

 **21:00 – Psychiatrist E. van Wit's office.**

The room wasn't as dark as Cal had imagined it to be. There were lights in the corners, the couch had a deep tint of blue, but it didn't even look so uninviting. Not only that, the woman in front of him didn't look like a combatant to him at all. To top it off, the door could be kicked open with a single movement. No visible locks, no individuals on the other side.

He could do this.

"Welcome," the woman said with a calm, but nonetheless, warm voice. "Would you like to take a seat?"

Cal took another look at the smooth texture of the couch. He could use some rest. "No thank you, madam. I would prefer to stand, if you don't mind."

She blinked once, but her expression remained neutral. Neutral and relaxed. Either she was great at controlling her body language or she had handled more…people…like him. "No, of course I don't mind. If it's all the same to you though, I will be sitting down. I would like to say that, though I admire your courage in volunteering for this, you are not obligated to talk. If you want to stop, or if you want to change the subject, you have every right to do so."

Cal nodded and observed the woman closer. Her hair, tied in a ponytail down her back, was nearly as grey as Ozpin's. It was odd, because she didn't look much older than a year or thirty. There was nothing remarkable about her clothes except for the pencil in her breast pocket. Only one potential weapon then.

"Well then. Shall we start with our names? Mine is Eve van Wit. You can call me whatever you feel more comfortable with."

He caught himself silently nodding and quickly scraped his throat to speak up. It was an inquiry, not a suggestion. "Cal, Miss van Wit."

"You have no last name?"

"Not that I know."

"Alright. Now Cal, do you want to pick a subject to talk about? Or would you like me to start with a subject?"

Considerate. What did she want? "You should decide, Miss van Wit."

The psychiatrist nodded and reached for a bundle of papers. "I think I want to talk about the most important question of for now…"

Of course. His current line of duty was a reason for much controversy, so-

"Do you feel safe at Beacon?"

The question caught him by surprise and his composure nearly slipped. Nonetheless, he had been preparing himself for this conversation for half a day. He knew the basics. "I used to."

"Used to?" she reached for a blank sheet of paper and asked, "Do you mind if I write down what we talk about? It's not meant for anyone else, just so that I can summarize for myself."

"Of course, go ahead," Cal quickly said.

"Thank you. You used to feel safe at Beacon? Can you elaborate?"

He nodded. "It's a difficult story. A scientist by the name of Thyrian left Onyx some years ago. Somehow, she found her hands on classified files. Files that she copied and distributed to all major news networks, important politicians and other rulers."

Miss van Wit pulled a face, but she kept quiet.

So he continued. "Those files contained…important details. Details that divided the population at Beacon, with the majority turning hostile."

"Yes…the child soldier incident. Do you see yourself as one?"

"Excuse me?"

"Do you consider yourself a child soldier in the same sense that those at Beacon do?"

Did he consider himself…"No, not really." Before he had arrived at Beacon, he hadn't thought anything was wrong. Of course the team had its trouble, especially when Ash had joined them, but he had never thought of himself as something unnatural. "I just am."

"You just are?"

"Yes. I was called and relied upon to serve…which I did. Remnant is at war and humanity is dying out. Sacrifices are a requirement for victory in such a scenario." Summed up like that, his motivations sounded awfully hollow and pretentious. Sometimes, he felt the exact same. Like he had no reason to do the things he did.

"Humanity is dying?" This time she did look surprised. "Is that what they told you?"

"Yes," he awkwardly said. He could see where this was going.

"Mass media would have us believe that we can counter the Grimm threat. Do you believe what Onyx told you?"

Hearing her speak that word made him feel uncomfortable. "Yes and no."

"Ah. Do you want to explain that?"

Yes. "I don't think that humanity is dying. We are still many and we are still strong. But…the Grimm are winning. I've seen what happens when the Hunters fall, or when they flee." He smiled without humor when he saw her confusion. "Yes, I've seen that happen too. The seasoned heroes turn tail and flee when the situation turns to…south."

"You can cuss if you want to."

Cussing was for the weak-willed. He had his discipline and…well, he used to have his honor. "And when they run, whatever they were doing to the Grimm stops as well. Lines break, soldiers fall and positions get overrun."

"That sounds terrible."

"It is. And then we get sent in to clean up. It's not that bad."

"It's not? It does sound rather bad to me."

Hollowness and pretentiousness. Difficult feelings to push away when talking about sensitive subjects. "It's the fights with the humans that made me believe that Onyx was right. That mankind was dying. The things they do to each other…the mess they cause. We stand united or we fall separated, there is no alternative. And right now, nobody stands together."

"So…if you consider your believes and your reasons, do you view yourself as a child soldier like the rest does?"

He hesitated. "What do you mean with the rest?"

"Well…" she grabbed another sheet and created a small drawing. A circle with two halves. "You see, some people have problems with seeing the difference between fact and opinion. There are some people who think that creating child soldiers is a terrible thing, while others think it is a necessary evil. From what I have seen, people at Beacon belong to both categories. But what I want to know is what you believe?"

'That's not important."

"Can I ask why not?"

Cal shrugged. "My opinion doesn't really matter; I am what I am. In Beacon's eyes, that would be…an under aged soldier.

"Cal, I believe that your opinion does matter. In fact, right now, your opinion is more important to me than the opinion of Ozpin, or everybody else."

Why would she think that? "I think…I think that we were too young. I have done good things and I have done terrible things. But it was necessary for peace."

"I don't doubt you must have done good things. Do you want to talk about your experiences with Onyx?"

"No," he said. Oh, he nearly forgot his manners. "Miss van Wit."

"Hmm…that's quite alright. Can I ask how old you are?"

"I think seventeen."

She wrote something down. "You think? You don't know exactly?"

He felt the tips of ears grow warm. "I…no."

"Its's alright. If you don't want to talk about it-"

"It's embarrassing."

"I think you would be surprised to know how many people consider normal things embarrassing. I won't judge you."

"I don't remember my birthday," he whispered. "I forgot it."

"But…that's not embarrassing. Given what you have been through, it's not embarrassing it all. You were with Onyx since you were twelve?"

"Yes."

"That's quite some time. Were you with a group during your missions?"

"Yes," he said. He felt so…helpless, despite the possibility of ending the conversation when he began to feel threatened. It was like he was being interrogated. Was that his fault? "Three others. Two left now."

"Oh." Miss van Wit leant back in her chair. "I am sorry to hear that."

Cal made a gesture with his head; the only way he knew how to handle sympathy. With apathy. "Lima Two-Two, Clayton. Wounded in action by White Fang snipers, just a month ago. Confirmed killed in action when we called in an airstrike to destroy the hideout." He halted. "When _I_ called in the airstrike."

"That's a tough decision to make."

"It wasn't," he said. The hollowness found its way to his throat now. "That's the problem. As soon as he went down, I knew that I couldn't get him out of there. I knew that, if I didn't get the rest out, we'd all die. And the stupid son of a –" He stopped himself and took a deep breath. He had moved _past_ this. "Clayton told me to do it anyway."

"That's a decision no leader should have to make."

"Technically, our teams don't have leaders. A different subject, miss van Wit?"

She nodded. "Yes…I believe that might be the best for now. Have you thought of a topic to talk about?"

"Actually, is it alright if we stop now, Miss van Wit? I've got important matters to attend to."

"Ah, of course. That's not a problem. Do you mind if I ask what matters you mean?"

Cal looked away. "Yes. I do. My apologies."

"That's fine. Could you send a message to Miss Xao Long that she is next? I have yet to get my scroll working."

He shrugged. "Sure."

"And thank you for being so open with me. I don't see a reason for any representative to take you or your friends away from Beacon, so rest assured."

Cal politely shook her hand and then left the room, whispering under his breath, "Then you haven't met Onyx yet…"

* * *

" _Procedure 042 Vytal is based on the ideology and theory of "Ankers". An Anker can be seen as a staging area for airships. The ship can travel everywhere, but it must always return to the staging area. No, that's not quite right. There are certain bacteria that, when threatened, form a protective shell inside of their body where they store their genetic material. This endospore will survive the death of the body and can be kept stable and intact for a long time. When the time is right, the endospore will hatch. An Anker is like that. The Procedure is a process meant to ehm…revert the mind of the Catalyst back to the mental Anker, upon which it can be…implanted."_

 _-Professor J. Ikterine, supervisor of Artificial-Comatose and Health-monitoring. 1 of 2._

 _CONTINUE? Y/N_

 _ **PROCESSING FILE**_

 _I myself cannot begin to comprehend the absolute horrors that must be inflected upon the subject to initiate this state. To reduce a human being to such a state that their very soul curls up in misery. The files are so thickly covered in ink that even the ink is classified –I have read war-reports describing civilian deaths in horrid detail that were even less covered than this. I guess it's for the better though; I am surrounded by the most brilliant people I have ever known and every single one of them has one sociopathic tendency in common. All of them are involved with 042-Vytal and none of them seem to have committed suicide out of guilt yet. Their resistance to emotions must be extraordinary; I am very glad that my only responsibility is to keep a check on the subject's vital signs. It doesn't do much to help me sleep though. Most of my colleagues do seem to use medicine…perhaps they will lend me some if I ask."_

 _-Professor J. Ikterine, supervisor of Artificial-Comatose and Health-monitoring._ _2 of 2._


	5. Chapter 5

_The Themeluesi has declared the results of the Catalyst Operation and WALLSTORM to be acceptable. I disagree. The candidates have to be kept in an artificial coma, perhaps for years, and that can have disastrous side-effects on their bodies. Extensive procedures must be carried out to keep them in a moderate condition. To top it off, the Committee has advised the Themeluesi to inform the soldiers about the nature of both WALLSTORM as Catalyst. I disagreed, posing my carefully-constructed arguments against their ethical ones. Of course I won. This has the unfortunate side-effect of meetings being interrupted by hysterical, screaming Operatives and random violence. Eventide declared to be "thoroughly creeped out" when Troopers had to pull a frenzied Whitefire out of that burning truck, but the benefits of secrecy outweigh those of the truth. The Catalyst's amnesia should kick in anyway, pushing the truth down even farther. ACE-tests should be starting as soon as the Operatives are…somewhat lucid."_

 _Professor K. Greene, Chief Scientist of Onyx's neuro-science division._

* * *

The black figure stood solemnly on the edge of the cliff, watching the city down below. It could see the small lights that signified the human beings wandering around, shining oh so brightly even with the distance that separated them. Merely gazing upon the shining souls was enough to infuriate it and drive its need for violence and vengeance.

Small, silvery objects sailed through the air. Shimmering as well, but only reflecting sunlight instead of its internal soul. Airships, they were called. They guarded the borders of the sky, safeguarding the city underneath against creatures of the air.

But the figure was no creature of the air. Too small, too nimble and too durable. The airships could not see it coming, especially not now that the darkness of the night covered its approach.

 _Satisfaction._ The time had come.

The dark shadow took the step forwards and the sky took it down. And with it, several smaller creatures of Grimm jumped after it, for purposes it was not remotely intrigued by. Its only focus was down, down where its hated prey stumbled around in the darkness, without coordination and without purpose. So easy to claim, so easy to snuff out.

The air tore at its skin, rushed past its frame and cooled its body down. It quickly gained momentum and plummeted down, where the silver airships had their territory.

 _Trepidation._ They came.

They never spotted its approach until it was too late. Guiding itself by subtly repositioning its limbs, the entity smashed against the closest airship and took a hold of one of the many wings, gazing at the other vehicles as they approached.

The one underneath it finally noticed that it had a passenger. It attempted to twist around and shake it off, but the shadow was so much faster. It increased its grip and slammed its other limb against the metal wing, shattering its frame. The wing spun off in the distance and the airship quickly tumbled out of control, forcing the creature on top of it to leap off.

When it did, it instantly acquired an additional target. A massive airship surged towards it, engines flaring with a deep shade of blue in the dark night, but the vehicle was so slow. It failed to intercept the shadow before it had latched onto the side of yet another smaller airship, perforated the cockpit with a stolen rifle and took control over the vehicle.

More of the airships came to stop it from entering their city of light, but they had failed to account for the creatures of the shadows. The mindless beasts either smashed themselves to pieces against the ground, or made it alive to prey on the humans. They distracted the massive airship long enough for the figure to steer its skyjacked vehicle straight towards it. Weapons activated and missiles were launched, but too late.

The stolen airship smashed against the larger vessel and with it, the shadowy figure had gained its key to the city below. But first, it needed to gain control of the ship. To do that, it would have to end the lives of all humans aboard the vehicle. But that lay in its nature; there was one absolute skill that it excelled at and that was ending the lives of human beings. After all, that was why it had been created.

The shadow stepped aboard the large airship and took a look around. It saw a glass tube standing in the corner, with odd lights surrounding it. An annoying sense of anger and fear formed in the back of its mind, coupled with frustrating stabs of pain. It was…not new. The moment was familiar to it; the fear that did not belong, the pain that did. Soon, it would be followed by join. Soon, she would appear. She always appeared with the glass tube. It was her home –and she had said that it would be her tomb.

As it took its look around the vessel, vague memories flashed before its eyes. Memories of screaming and pain…memories that were foreign and did not belong within its already-ravished mind. Memories of a crying girl, young and broken, attempting to find a home within it.

 _Confused_. Why here?

Despite expecting it, the shadow was still caught unaware when she leapt at it, like a feral animal. Hair as dark as a Nevermore caught in the night, eyes as red as its shed blood and a skin so ghastly pale that she could have never seen the light of day. Her features were contorted, her mouth locked in a feral, but soundless scream.

Her appearance shook him. It made him think of what he had been, before his fall. The joy he felt upon feeling her frail body collide with him was short-lived, but it felt all the better. Her nails tore gashes in his face, but felt like they blunted off in the end. Her feet kicked at his chest as she attempted to gain leverage and he smiled at her antics. In the beginning, she had brought him fear. Now, her moments of thinly-spread sanity and lucid dreaming were the only moments he could feel at peace. Where he felt like he had any sense of reality at all.

But that ended too abruptly. Two humans rounded the corner and opened fire, filling the air with bullets and energy.

The entity snapped into movement, the grey state of training taking over control of its body. The humans…their souls burning so brightly that they physically hurt. Only two of them, but their combined radiance set alight its already fuming hatred and took a hold of its attention. It woke up a hate reserved only for their kind.

Two of them. So bright…their very presence hurt it. They were armed, it was not.

The figure uttered a soft hiss, unable to vocalize the turmoil that its mind had become. Unable to do anything but silently scream and curse the world for its cruelty and filth.

Its ruined throat managed to convey some of its frustration, but not enough. Never enough.

They launched. The ground underneath their feet shattered, the metal around it bent and the air grew hot as they came closer.

The entity knew what they were. It knew how it would end them and it moved accordingly.

The two humans unleashed their weapons and carved through the space it had just occupied, their weapons flashing as bright as their souls. Together, they were a flurry of movement, slicing and carving and attempting to drive it back to the point of entry it had created. But it would not be denied; they might be more, but the figure knew itself. It was a weapon, uncontrolled and without doubt. It dodged the first few strikes, blocked a series of slashed aimed at its blind spot and allowed one of the less powerful ones to impact on its forearm. The blade carved through its skin and dark blood dripped to the floor, but the pain only fuelled its hated and increased its ferocity.

One made the mistake of blocking its follow-up attack instead of dodging it. The sheer force behind its blow dented the human's shield and broke the aura of the warrior behind, who staggered under the impact.

Faster than a human could follow, the figure stepped closer and dealt another blow. The woman's shield crumpled, her ribs shattered and underneath, her heart ceased working.

As she dropped at its feet, her searing light slowly fading to nothingness, the being turned around and faced the remaining Huntsman. It growled with satisfaction upon seeing the fear on his face; she would have been proud.

The human attacked again.

It let him come. It would welcome everything that could hurt it.

* * *

 **Beacon Academy, Headmaster's office. Possible incursion points: roof, clockwork-roof.**

Headmaster Ozpin rubbed his temples when a new message appeared on his screen. He could only deal with one political fallout at the same time, so he clicked it away. Where was he again?

" _They lie, Ozpin! There is no other way!"_

Ah, right there. "James…I am sorry, but the facts all point to the same conclusion. You might not be responsible and I sincerely hope so, but…the individuals behind Onyx have never been known to make statements without backing them up. The trick that was used against them several times now, has been rounded onto us. And their files are much, much more convincing than the files that the ministry of Atlas has sent."

" _You…Ozpin, you do not believe what those criminals are saying, do you?'_

"I wish I had the option to not believe, General. But these are solid, true facts. Atlas has a major income in the selling of weapons and robotic defence systems…systems that are utilized in wars all around Remnant. Even the armies in Vale's own Luna-Arcadia conflict were supplied by Atlas. That fact alone would be enough to convince survivors of that tragedy to believe the Kingdom of Atlas was responsible for the spark that ignited the war."

" _And how would you know? Ozpin, the Themeluesi is the master of deceit!"_

"And all warfare is based on deceit, is it not, General? Atlas' economy is thriving, despite the wars. Or is despite not the right word?"

" _Ozpin, I am warning you."_

The Headmaster smiled, though humour was the last thing on his mind. "Let us go through these documents, shall we? The sales of Atlas' weaponry and equipment has seen an increase in numbers in the regions most conflicted. That is even without taking the SDC into equation. The Company has no doubt been supplying your Kingdom with enough Dust to reach these technological achievements. I speak no lies, General. I merely repeat facts as stated by what appear to be genuine dossiers."

" _Let me make this clear then. The Atlas military forces have not been instigating war; any and all profit seemingly made by Atlas are coincidental only!"_

Were it so easy. "And should be cast aside the accusations aimed at the SDC as well? The crimes and corruption of Mistral and Vacuo? When Onyx was revealed to use child soldiers on a massive scale, you were the very first person to press for war. Your organization wanted to publically scorn them. Or do you not remember that?"

" _Headmaster Ozpin, as the General of the Atlas armed forces, I take crimes of war very personal. I take it that you have never faced child soldiers in combat? Well, I have."_

"Of course. I have been spared the misfortune of having to end the lives of the underaged. However, I have been keeping several of them safe from harm and prosecution right here in my academy. Troublesome they might be, they have proven quite vital in defending us when the situation was dire. Yet you want to see them strung up?"

" _To keep the public safe, extreme steps must be taken."_

"How unlike someone I know. The founder of Onyx has taken those steps as well. Why, these words have been uttered by several of the 'criminals' themselves. I take no pleasure in this, but just as we had to validate the Vale News Network's claims about Onyx, we will have to validate Onyx's claims about Atlas."

" _I will not stand for these accusations. Our economy is the result of stable planning and hard work! I do not speak for Mistral or Vacuo and I will not even stand by the Schnee Dust Company, but I think it's suspicious that Vale is the only Kingdom without these leaks. Wouldn't you agree?"_

Ozpin took a sip from his coffee and carefully picked his words when he replied. "The Kingdom of Vale has long been training Huntsmen and Huntresses for the protection of the innocent. But we have seen our share of war and misery. Crime, corruption, it was all here. Before they made their existence known to the world, Onyx staged their soldiers and activities here. Their Operatives caused more death and destruction than even the Grimm, but their deeds were all aimed at those their leader deemed wicked."

" _I understand what you are saying; your precious shadows cleansed your Kingdom from corruption and evil, did they not? Ozpin, don't be a fool! They are everywhere. Vale isn't special, Vale isn't different. We have enemy fireteams engaging my troops as we speak! Just yesterday, a surprise aerial raid took out eight of my airships! Eight! We took down a single enemy fighter and it self-destructed before we could get at it. So do not think that Onyx has chosen your city to stage their operations."_

"True. But on the contrary to the other Kingdoms, the Themeluesi found willingness here in the Kingdom of Vale. Through clever manipulation and manoeuvring, they forged allies. While Atlas was busy, attempting to bully them into the public, my Academy staged an expedition to the North with their help. The North, James. Where the old Kingdom of Atlas lay, before it was consumed by the Grimm. Have _you_ ever thought of investigating the ruins of old?"

" _Don't spring that on me, Ozpin. I was off fighting a war against the creatures of Grimm while you and your children were playing saviour!"_

Another message popped into Ozpin's view, belonging to the representative of Mistral's council. That would be interesting. "Let me say this, General. If you are so convinced of your own innocence, then appeal to Onyx. Tell them what you told me. If they respond to human traffic and illegal transport of drugs with lethal force, I cannot envision what they would do if they deemed a party guilty of instigating wars just for profit. I should let you go now, James. I have other matters to attend to."

" _This is not the last you will hear of me, Ozpin. If the Themeluesi thinks he can mess with the world's most powerful military force, he has something coming for him."_

The General terminated the conversation via his end and the Headmaster was left to ponder a great many things. Did he consider James Ironwood guilty? No, not per se. Did he consider him a possible cause of a new war? Yes. Regret his opinion he might, but Ozpin did not want to know how the General would respond to these incursions. The last thing this world needed right now was a full war between two powerful, militarized organizations. There was absolutely nothing to guarantee Ironwood's victory…and whatever the outcome, Remnant would be greatly weaker for it.

How would General Eventide, the foremost general of Onyx's armed forces, respond to all of this? The accusations, the instigations…their desire for peace left only conflict and pain. How would he protect his students when it came to violence?

And who would be the first target, anyway? Atlas, for their supposed causing of wars around the world? Mistral and the cartels it supported? Vacuo and its human trafficking? Or would the Schnee Dust Company be the first to find itself without support, engaging an enemy it could not beat?

He answered the message from Mistral and powered up the holographic display again. For several seconds, nothing happened. Then the imaging sprung to life and the image of a tall woman in a dress appeared in the middle of the room.

"Councillor."

" _Headmaster Ozpin. How fortunate to see you well."_

He wondered about the sincerity of those words, but they were welcome nonetheless. "It is good to see you as well, though I wish our circumstances were better."

The Councillor nodded. Her young appearance hid a clever and wise individual, tasked with governing over most of the Kingdom of Mistral without much support. It was not for nothing that Mistral had been gifted with an extraordinary welfare. Her ability to exert both pressure as subtle threats would come in very handy in dealing with the representatives of Onyx. Eventide might meet his match with her, if he decided to pay her a visit. "Headmaster Ozpin, I have an important subject that I need to discuss with you."

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh my. Do tell me."

"Very well. Headmaster, I wish to accelerate the Vytal Festival. Now that the world has been so divided, we must learn to stand together once more."

The Vytal festival? It was Vale's turn to host the event, but with recent developments…"Can you elaborate on that, my lady?"

"Of course. The way I see it, we either stand together or fall divided. I do not wish to make a foe from Onyx, but if I have to choose between fighting them on my own, or fighting the Grimm on my own, my choice is clear."

"Neither?" Ozpin suggested.

The Councillor smiled. "Indeed. If we can unite the four Kingdoms once more, we can unite our forces, purge the corruption that has stained our souls and rebuild. I heard that your capitol city suffered a breach?"

"It has. There were casualties, but we managed to clear it."

"Ah. You have my sympathies. Are you still capable of being the host?"

"Economically, we are. Our infrastructure can support the festival, but…as you no doubt might have heard, we share some…infamous guests. They do not have anywhere to go, but most would not welcome them at the festival."

"The children of the damned? Yes, I read the official article as well. I applaud you for taking care of them; it is not often that any one organization can bear that burden. I would like to see them, if you would allow that."

"I make no promises, but that…should…be possible."

She smiled again. "Then I see no problem in allowing their presence, but only if they are not recognized by the public."

"They will not partake in any fights, I can promise that."

"Good. I will contact the Atlas representative as well-"

 _Good luck with that,_ Ozpin grimly thought.

"-after I have sought out the Vacuo representative. If we can get this running, Ozpin, we might have a chance to work out this nasty business."

"Of course," Ozpin replied. "Good luck." This time, he was the one who terminated the link.

* * *

' _So then I thought, why not die at the sea, watching the sun set?'_

Will nodded. "That would be a good place to die. Only one problem."

' _Yes?'_

"The situations are difficult to get by. Dying at sunset? Not easy to do. Don't forget; death can set in at any given moment."

' _Hmph. You would know, wouldn't you?'_

"I dunno. I only died twice, both times in the mud. And both times,, you pulled me back. Don't be sad; there are plenty of serene places to find. Even here. Rooftops, gardens, even dorms."

' _Uh-huh. How would dorms be serene?'_

"Certain people have a serene sort of presence. They make things calm by being there."

' _That doesn't make any sense. People don't make things serene, their behaviour does. And who are we stalking this time?'_

"You saw team RWBY. Team LACG is currently away. Next up is JNPR. They should be down here somewhere…"

The young soldier made his way through a lit-up hallway, awkwardly tugging at the tie that the official Beacon uniform sported. Having fought in a dozen different kind of battle dresses over the course of the past few years, he could honestly say that the thing didn't even feel that uncomfortable. After the Mistral cape-uniform disaster, he was willing to give anything a shot. But a tie…the damn thing didn't suit him.

"That's team JNPR," Will muttered, watching the four people walking in the garden below the window. "I've fought by their side a few times. Can you see them?"

' _Yup_. _And each team has a leader?'_

"Correct. JNPR has Jaune Arc. The blonde."

' _He looks cute.'_

He didn't really consider Jaune to be cute. Guys weren't his thing; they were too threatening to catch his eye. But that was the problem; it was difficult to separate Ancilla's feelings from his. Whatever she considered cute in someone, he would notice it too. It was a good thing that the distance between the garden and the second floor made it hard to discern certain features. "He's odd."

' _Uh-oh. Odd to you, or odd to us?'_

The latter would require certain mental discrepancies or exotic personalities. Strangely enough, the only examples that came to Will's mind were Professors Oobleck and Adamant. "Odd to me. He wants to be a hero, but he has no training."

' _But…but weren't students supposed to have training to enter Beacon?'_

"That's what's odd. He faked his way in, but he showed the traits that the Headmaster likes to see in leaders." He paused, searching for the right words. He just couldn't seem to find the right ones at the right moment anymore; talking was becoming difficult to do. "And he's still alive."

' _I noticed,'_ Ancilla playfully replied. ' _What's so odd about that? Oh, look! He's giving her flowers!'_

Will smiled and leant against the window. Ren had picked a flower for Nora and now she was hugging him with enough force to make him flail. Kinda like how Yang performed her hugs. _"_ Arc has been in some pretty bad situations. He helped his team survive in the North, made up a plan to fight off Blackwood and sort of hit me in my face."

' _Wait, he did what?'_ There was no playfulness in her voice now; she spoke quietly and with a bit of a monotone. Upset.

"I think I deserved it though. I nearly shot his partner, when she came to wake me in the North."

' _Oh…you were still having the nightmares?'_

He calmly inhaled, hoping that she would not remember the nightmares herself. She did not need those right now. "Every night since you were gone. She just woke me in the middle of a…a bad one. It was just a reflex."

' _I believe you. Is she alright?'_

He gestured at the window. "That's her."

' _The jumpy one?'_

"Nikos. The redhead, a famous fighter from Mistral. Her Aura stopped the bullet. She understood though. Jaune didn't."

' _So he punched you?'_

"He didn't exactly trust me." Will shrugged. "There was no reason for trust. In his eyes, it was Operative Greystone." He paused. "He hits like a child though."

' _Not like a girl?'_

He make a sound. It had to be a trick question. "Some of the girls here hit harder than me. I think Yang might rival Blackwood's strength when something really gets her going."

' _Yang…she was the angel, right?'_

"Normally, yes. And you should have seen her in her dress."

' _It must have been a sight for sore eyes. You did behave, did you?'_

"Of course I did!" he quickly replied. It wasn't that he misbehaved; others simply acted in such unpredictable ways that he never quite knew what to do. "I complimented her."

' _And? What did she do?'_

"She took me to dance."

Ancilla made a sound of disappointment. ' _But you rarely ever danced! I wanted to see that!'_

"There will be more opportunities."

' _Do you promise?'_

"Of course."

' _Good! You said, famous fighter?'_

He did? "Pyrrha Nikos?"

' _Yes?'_

"Right. She won quite a few tournaments in Mistral before she joined Beacon."

' _But…I'm from Mistral…and I don't know her…I think? Do I?'_

That memory problem was becoming problematic. Had she suffered from that in the beginning as well? If so, it had to be a side-effect from the transplant. He knew from experience that it was a bad feeling, not to remember things. "Don't worry, her time was after ours. By the time she started to gain fame, we had already left Mistral behind."

' _I…I guess so…what else did I miss?'_

"A lot. People died, people lived, nations fell…people were tortured. The rarer Grimm were encountered here in Vale."

' _All of them?'_

"All of them." Will heard footsteps coming his way. "Even the mental one."

' _Then there is one thing I can do. I think?'_

"That's right. You protect me, I'll protect them."

' _Yay. Wait, you said torture?'_

Ah…a slip of the tongue. With Onyx, that meant a slit of the throat. Here, it meant awkward situations. "That's…a difficult story-"

The footsteps came closer and Will was forced to break his response off. He turned towards the other side of the hallway and saw, much to his surprise, that it was Weiss Schnee. What did she want from him?

' _She's that girl, isn't she?'_ Ancilla said. ' _I like her hair. Why is she wearing a skirt though? Isn't that kind of awkward in a fight?'_

"Combat skirt," Will muttered. He knew Weiss well enough to not feel physically threatened by her, because she had done the least to hurt him in the past. That said, students were obsessive about their weapons and he _did_ break hers in two…and while the least threatening, Weiss Schnee was far from the kindest girl he knew.

"There you are," she said, crossing her arms when she was close enough. "I have been looking for you, you know?"

' _I think this is about that report. I told you that it wasn't nice what you did. Well…let's see if we can solve this, shall we?'_

"Is there something I can help you with?" Will asked. There wasn't much else he could think of to say and Ancilla was still acclimatizing.

"Yes," Weiss snapped before he could even finish. "I wanted to say that...well, perhaps I was a bit too blunt."

' _What?'_

"What?"

The Heiress impatiently tapped her foot against the ground, looking at the ground while she did. "Look, I know I can be…testing…to some. And these are stressful days for all of us. But you need to learn how to _read_ people if you want to bring them news like that."

Reading people? He couldn't even read a book, let alone a living, breathing person. What did she mean? "It was too soon?"

Weiss looked up at him and this time, there was nothing condescending in her eyes. "Will…I know that it's hard. What you are, where you are…nobody expects you to understand everything, right away. But some things need to be handled delicately! And I think you know that."

' _That's why we're learning, isn't it? It's why I'm here.'_

"Your family was at stake," he quietly said. "If it were mine…"

' _Not exactly the best example.'_

"I thought you needed to know," he quickly added. "But I was out of line. I am sorry."

Weiss snorted. "Actually, _I_ wanted to apologize. But if you wish to do so, be my guest. Are we clear on this?"

Will was halfway towards saluting when he realized that she was not a commanding officer giving him orders and he quickly pulled his hand down again. "Sure."

' _Yes sir,'_ Ancilla laughed. It seemed that he was not the only one who got that connection.

"Good." Weiss looked out the window, then back at him. "What are you doing here anyway?"

He felt a stab of annoyance, but he kept that to himself. "Enjoying the view."

' _Do you want to go look for a mirror? I want to see what you look like now. Please?'_

That would be a different kind of view.

' _Pretty please?'_

And Weiss didn't look like she understood. "What, looking out over the garden? Since when do you appreciate the finer sights of this Academy?"

Having two conversations at once was difficult. Having two conversations at once, while one of them was with Weiss Schnee? Difficult and frustrating. "I can appreciate fine sights," he replied. Her suggestion was nearly insulting. "Just not in the garden."

' _In a mirror?'_

Weiss rolled with her eyes. "Yes, about that…I wanted to talk with you about something else too. I notice the way you are looking at Yang recently and quite frankly, I don't like it."

Will felt his stomach do the equivalent of a combat roll when he heard Yang's name, but could not afford to show that. Now here, not with Weiss Schnee standing in his face.

' _You are looking at her?'_ Ancilla said, teasingly. ' _That's so cute! That does explain why we felt so warm near her though…'_

"I have no idea what you are talking about," Will remarked. His voice felt too small to sound true.

But Weiss would not have any of that. "Don't give me that! You're looking at her like Zwei looking at Ruby!"

' _What's a Zwei?'_

"I have no idea." Could he still run? Smash she window, land on Jaune and apologize afterwards? "Why…why is this relevant?"

The Heiress sighed and averted her eyes again. "Two reasons, actually. I know it should be Ruby doing this, but… well, none of us want to see Yang get hurt. There are bad experiences with people she loved."

"This is about her mother," Will quietly replied. Yang had told him, prior to the dance. The loss of one mother, the supposed blame for having accidentally murdered her other mother…except that her other mother was still alive. Yang had told him that too. "And Ruby's."

"Yes. And with everything that's been going on lately…I don't know what to expect of you anymore."

' _Oh.'_

Will recoiled at her words. He understood her implication, but he did not understand _why_. At least…had he done…he hadn't, had he?

Weiss didn't stop there. "You did hurt her in the past. A few weeks into our education, when you got the order to infiltrate Torchwick's group? You destroyed a lot of assets to gain his trust and when our team was sent to stop you, not knowing who it was at the time? It was Yang who felt betrayed the most. Did you know that?"

' _You did what? You infiltrated someone's group?'_

"It was an order at the time," he quietly replied. "Meant to protect the students. Did she take it so heavy?"

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "Of course she did, you dolt. To her, it was a friend betraying her. And I know why you did it and why you felt it was justified. It just doesn't take away that you were willing to hurt those who cared, just because of orders."

' _I thought you stopped doing that. What happened to you when I was gone?'_

Shaking his head, Will said, "It's different now. Things changed. I'm no longer associated with Onyx, just like Blake left the White Fang."

"Yes, but Blake hasn't shown any signs of delusions and other mental disorders. Just look at what happened last time you felt people threatened you! You nearly killed team CFVY and need I remind you about my weapon? You broke it! And then you stabbed Ruby with it!"

It was not his proudest moment, but it had to be done. It had to be…but she didn't know that. Weiss did not know why he had done it. How could she? "Weiss…I did not want to hurt any of you. But I can make up for that…and I will. However, I am not going to hurt Yang. Nor Ruby, nor any you. Not again."

Though he did not know what effect his words could have had on Weiss, she did not respond the way he had thought she would have.

"Yes…that is actually the second reason I wanted to talk to you. Are you sure that you are in full control of what you say? Of what you do?"

' _Hold on…that's the second time she's said that. Do you think she knows something we don't?'_

At least Ancilla could still focus on the problem at hand. For that, he was grateful. "My thoughts are my own-"

' _You are lying to her.'_

"-and that's all there is to it." He paused, wondering how far he could push his luck. "Don't psychoanalyze me. You're not Ruby."

Again she crossed her arms and gave him that sceptical look. "Oh really? In case you haven't forgotten, you made an enemy out of a lot of people just to chase after your deceased friend. Ruby may have agreed to look after you, but that doesn't take away the facts. And the fact, Will, is that you hurt people. I trust that you don't want to, but you do."

' _Deceased? That means dead, right? Why do people think I am dead?'_

This conversation was starting to give him a headache. He could feel the familiar pounding at the base of his neck and there was much he wanted to discuss with Ancilla, in private. This needed to end here. "Is that what you told Frost Schnee?"

Weiss opened her mouth to reply, then closed it again. Her face grew pale and she clenched her fists. When she did reply, her voice was soft and calm, like the whispers leading up to a storm. "What?"

Ancilla stayed silent. She must have felt something that he hadn't. Sharp girl. "He and I both hurt people. Do we share a common origin? A common mind-set? Is he just a child soldier?"

Weiss stepped closer to him. Her face contorted with a rage that even he could recognize. "That is completely irreverent! You people did that, so you don't just get to bring that up!"

But he was not intimidated. Her anger –he had seen it before. Seen it in so many people, glaring at him, cursing and mocking him. Treating him like a moron or an idiot or a child. Without respect, without human dignity. No matter what relation he had with them, he was a weapon. One with its safety permanently removed and some people needed to remember that. Only two individuals reserved the right to assume things of him and Weiss was. Not. Them. "What do you see when you look at him?" He cut her off, barely aware that he was raising his voice as well. "At me? A killer? A deranged child, burning innocent men and women? Or do you see a mirror, reflecting the blame and the guilt back at you, because you know that you caused what happened to him!"

The sharp sound of Weiss's hand hitting him in his face echoed strangely off of the walls, making it sound harder than its bite. Ancilla screamed, Weiss jerked and Will lashed out on instinct.

' _You're hurting her!_

"It was never Onyx taking him!" Greystone shouted at the Heiress, his face mere inches away from hers. There was such anger, new to him. Unlike him. Her words had triggered him, badly. Her throat, warm and vulnerable, in his grip, iron and unyielding. The offending hand locked in a secure grasp, ready to be broken with but a small gesture of his wrist. "The White Fang took him because your father sold him out! To keep you Heiress, Frost had to die! Who is to blame?"

' _Will, stop! Let her go, now!'_

Pressed up against the window, Weiss could do nothing but grab his wrist with her free hand and kick with her legs. His cheek stung, his chest was heaving and the light was flashing painfully in his eyes. The headache pounded away at his meagre reserves of self-control, but Ancilla's voice was stronger.

And Will saw his own reflection in the glass pane of the window, staring back at him. What he saw frightened him. Fear and uncertainty, inspired by the face of a merciless butcher. The weapon unburdened by its safety.

Was this what the people with him saw when he lost control of himself?

Weiss looked scared. Her breath came in hitches, her eyes were so large…and he had her by her throat –forcefully, hurting her. Why? Because of her words? Her eyes displayed her dread, so pure…so honest.

She had been right all along.

The second he realized what he was doing, he released the girl and backed down. So coughed and rubbed her throat, before glancing at her wrist. He couldn't have broken it, could he? He couldn't have.

Please.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. Weiss looked up and he moved back, gazing away so that he would not have to look her in her eyes. That anger…it was not his. Not like him. This was all wrong! How could he ever set this right? "I'm…I didn't mean to…" He touched the side of his face, cursing himself for what he had done. "I'm so s-sorry…"

The fear hit him now, too. What would happen? He had misbehaved, badly. He had lashed out at someone he should not even have touched.

He wrapped his arms around his chest and slid down against the wall to show that he was not going to resist. The consequences were his.

For several slow and agonizing seconds, the silence was deafening. Then, Weiss spoke up. "I shouldn't have hit you," she quietly said. She sounded close, closer than the window. "Guess I'm not completely myself either…"

"I can't help it…" Will whispered. "Lately, when people touch…something goes wrong. Did I…how much do you hurt?"

Weiss slowly exhaled. She sounded like she stood right beside him. "Nothing I have not experienced before…" Her voice was even, monotone. Free of blame, but filled with something else. Arguably worse. "I think we both stepped out of line here. We can continue if you get your…issues…worked out."

 _Issues._ She was closer to the truth than she knew.

"What you said about Frost…is it true?"

"Yes. And your sister knows."

"She does?" Why did her voice sound bemused instead of emotional? "If you will excuse me…"

Will looked up to watch the Heiress turn around and walk away. His headache reached a fever pitch and the lights flashed again. Too bright for him to bear. The hallway shifted and changed –turned into a long, white one without windows. Weiss was a person with a lab coat, slowly walking away while clutching a small bag.

He shook his head and sighed. The images were unfamiliar to him. Not worthy of distress. "That has not happened to me before," he softly said once she was gone.

' _Not? I believe I got the impression that this was not the first…accident.'_

She too ignored what they just saw. Her voice made him cringe though; it was rare to hear her disappointed and it always stung more than the bite of a bullet or knife. "Not like this. Not from people like her. I…usually, it's a reflex."

' _But now you got emotional. She did not blame you, you know that?'_

He shook his head. "I can't tell the blame from the scolding. Word is out, you know?"

' _Word about what?'_

"Everything. There were whistle-blowers…they published Onyx's files…now the world is crying for blood. And we became crimes of war."

' _They know?'_ Ancilla carefully asked. ' _About…?'_

"Me, Alice, everyone. That one thing we had in common is now breaking news."

' _Well, that's good, right? Onyx is evil! The world deserves to know what happened to all the little kids that they took. Now people can help!'_

"But they don't want to help. People blame us. They blame me. They all know, but…"

Sensing how he was unable to continue, Ancilla interjected again. ' _Now they treat you differently? You never told anyone?'_

"Things changed when you disappeared. I don't even remember all of it. A whole lot happened."

'W _e have the time, I think? Why don't you bring me up to speed. I'll figure out what was responsible for hurting that girl like that.'_

Will got up and looked around. The empty hallway did not seem like the best choice to have such a conversation to him…

* * *

 **22:00 – Psychiatrist E. van Wit's office.**

"Hello?" Yang said, knocking on the door of the small office. "Anyone there?"

It only took a few moments for the person inside to answer her. The door opened, revealing a woman who…actually looked sort of normal. Yang had expected some creepy bald dude with reflective glasses, but this was much more pleasant. The woman wore a long coat and she had stuck her hair up in a loose knot, but she did not look unpleasant at all. This would be something. "Ah, Miss Xiao Long? Please, come in. Take a seat."

Yang shrugged and did as the woman said. The room did have the clichéd shrink-sofa, but it was dyed in a tasteful shade of blue. That made it less awful

"Welcome," the woman said, taking a seat behind a small desk. "You are a member of team RWBY, correct?"

"Correct," Yang said, looking at the subtle lights that had been placed in the office. "You can call me Yang."

"Right. Now Yang, I want to say that, should you want to stop, or if you want to change the subject, you have every right to do so. Nobody will obligate you to talk."

If that was the case, it didn't make sense that all first-year students were required to come here, but fine. She would see what she could do with this. "That's good to know."

"My name is Eve van Wit. You can call me whatever you feel more comfortable with."

Yeah, that would work. "Sure."

"So…what do want to talk about, Yang? Do you want to pick a subject, or should I-?"

"Nope," Yang said. "Can't think of anything."

"That is quite alright. Do you want me to pick a subject?"

Yang shrugged. "Sure."

"Okay. When I came to Beacon, Headmaster Ozpin gave me several papers that described some of team RWBY's exploits. One of them spoke of a joint expedition to the North, set up by Onyx and Beacon. Several events took place there…what did you see, in the North?" She then reached for a piece of paper and a pen. "Also, do you mind if I write down what we talk about? Purely so that I can summarize what we discuss?

"Snow and ice, mostly," Yang replied, gesturing for the psychiatrist to go ahead. "Frozen wastelands, as far as the eye reached. Didn't take too long for that to disappear, though. We got caught in a snowstorm when we arrived."

"A snowstorm? Did anyone get hurt?"

Yang recalled carrying Weiss on her shoulders, barely kept warm enough by her own internal heat. Weiss…not so much. While Atlas was generally a cold Kingdom, Weiss hadn't been born in the North. "Some of us didn't fare so well, but we all made it. Nobody lost their pinkies, or anything."

"That's fortunate to hear. What else did you find in the North?"

"People. Grimm mostly, but also people. Hanging on by the skin of their teeth, struggling to live, but they were still alive. In one of the last intact cities, we found a large group. They were rounding up everyone who could fight to defend their walls from this massive Grimm attack. Our team got there just in time to help them." Yang left out the details of the first encounter with the Juggernaut. She didn't really need to recall that.

"I take it that they were glad to see you?"

"Nah. At least, not at first. The Major leading them was this paranoid old soldier who didn't welcome strangers. That turned around when the first wave hit the walls."

"I see. Could you tell me what that made you feel, seeing members of your own kind fight for their own survival?"

Here they went. "I dunno. I mean, humanity has always been fighting. Every fight I get in is a fight to the death, in one way or the other. With my team or not."

"Oh?" Eve sounded surprised. "Could you elaborate?"

"The Grimm want to kill us, the criminals we fight want to kill us and even the White Fang want to kill us. Team RWBY has yet to fight someone who doesn't want to kill us." Technically, that wasn't true. There was the time with the foodfight…and Will hadn't been fighting to kill.

"Hmm…you used the word "I" when you talked about fights to the death."

"Did I?"

"Yes. You did add your team as a factor after that, but it made me wonder…did you get in fights before you came to Beacon?"

"Sure," Yang said. "I mean, that's logical. Combat training doesn't work without experience."

"Fights to the death?"

Hmm…subject a bit too sensitive. "It's…a difficult story," she said with a sigh. The message seemed to be clear, because the shrink didn't ask for more details.

"Let's talk about your team for a few moments, then?"

"Sure."

Eve put her paper aside. "Your teamleader is Ruby Rose. Your younger sister?"

"Yup."

"She was allowed to skip two years to get enlisted to Beacon…and now she's the leader of your team. Impressive. It makes you feel proud, doesn't it?"

"Of course it does!" Yang replied, somewhat indignant. "When I found out my little sister was going to Beacon, I was thrilled. But…"

"But?"

"Well…those fights to the death? She was there too. On one of our last missions, she got kidnapped. She tried to escape and the White Fang members tried to kill her. Actual gunfire, aimed to kill her, a girl barely sixteen. If we hadn't gotten there in time…"

"But you did, I take it?" Eve asked.

"Yeah. But if we hadn't…I don't want to think about her getting hurt. Sometimes, I think she might be too young for the things we get involved with." Yang paused. "But don't you tell her that!"

"I promise I won't. Everything you say in here, will stay in here."

"Nice."

"You said that the members of the White Fang nearly shot her. Was that her first time experiencing near death?"

Those two last words shook Yang more than they should. A shiver ran down her spine and she suddenly felt a lot colder. "I-I…I guess so."

"Yang? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Yang replied, louder than she had intended to. "It's just…" she brushed a strand of hair out of her face and sighed. "I ehm…ran into something unexpected a while ago. I'm still getting over it."

Eve's expression turned to worry. "Something that involved your sister? Or-?

"No, nothing like that," Yang cut her off. Mann, she really didn't like being here. "It's…have you heard of an Operative Blackwood?"

"I did," the shrink said, nodding. "One of Onyx's child soldiers. He went AWOL, did he not?"

"Yeah. And for some reason, he was stalking Operative Mantis who, for some reason, was heading the same direction as us. We found her, but not him. Well, not until later, anyway. It's complicated."

"That is alright. You fought Blackwood?"

"Me, my team and pretty much all the first-year students of Beacon. Teams JNPR and LACG were there, Will was there-"

"I am sorry, who?" Eve asked.

Oh. Right. "Operative Greystone. He accompanied us on the expedition to the North. When we fought Blackwood, we…we ehm, we fought him fourteen people and it didn't work out very well."

"What happened?"

"People got hurt. Nobody died," Yang quickly added when she saw Eve's face, "but most of us got pretty much stomped into the snow. And…well, I guess I had a near-death experience there."

"Oh," the shrink said with genuine shock. "What happened?"

"As it turned out, Onyx Operatives have another ace up their sleeve. Blackwood at least. He figured out how to kill people through their Aura with a single hit."

"He…he what?"

"Yup. That's what I thought when he nailed me. I'm not used to people knocking me down, Miss van Wit. And I really don't like it."

"So how did you survive?"

"Apparently, while the rest tried to figure out how to hurt the bastard, Will attempted to resuscitate me. Try to get my heart going."

"So Blackwood stopped your heart? That's awful. I'm glad your friend succeeded, then."

Yeah…she too. "That's…something we can talk about. Because sometimes, I dream about the North. About dying…and it's not pleasant."

Eve reached for her paper again and started writing. She was a pretty quick with that pencil. "No, that's not pleasant at all. Nightmares…can I ask how many times you dream about what happened?"

"I dunno. Twice a week?" More? Less? "Dreams get fuzzy. It's worse when I wake up."

"Having a near death experience could be enough for someone to develop a form of trauma. Sometimes even Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, or-"

"PTSD. Yeah, you can say I am familiar with the term."

"I can't say for sure that you have it though. If you want to be certain, there are tests we can do."

Well, Yang didn't want to be certain. She had seen some ugly facets of PTST and she was pretty convinced that she did not have it. "I think that can wait. This is something I might want to talk about more, but I don't want to rush it."

"Absolutely. The decision is entirely up to you. Do you wish to pursue this subject, or do you want to talk about something else?"

Yang glanced at the clock hanging in the office. This had been going on for a bit too long now. "Sorry Miss Eve. I'm done talking for today."

The shrink put her pen and paper down and looked at Yang. "Sure, that is no problem. Do you want to pick a date for the next appointment?"

"You can give me a call if you want to. Lessons can wait."

"I will try to plan around your studies. After all, they have a priority too."

Yang chuckled. She wasn't too certain about that. After all, their lessons had turned a bit weird. "Yeah, sure. Thanks for the session, Miss Eve."

"Of course. Can you send a message to Miss Belladonna for me next? I can't seem to get my Scroll working…"

Blake? Oh boy, that would be a fun one.

* * *

" _Testing. It has been two days since WALLSTORM and the Caralyst Procedure (now officially referred to as the Catalyst-Implantation) has been completed. Subject Alpha of generation two, Alpha-II, gained consciousness about six hours ago and promptly started screaming like a wounded animal. This seemed to have unsettled the Staff somewhat, but that could also be because Alpha murdered three of them before he could be sedated. Of course, this is in fact the Catalyst screaming, not the soldier. Procedure 042-Vytal has been exceptionally thorough in creating her anker. It has also been exceptionally thorough in causing the defection of multiple members of the ones responsible for administrating the Procedure, but those were located and eliminated. Semantics._

 _Here's to hoping that she won't drive Alpha-II to suicide. That would be a waste."_

 _-FIELD RECORDING 7B, Professor K. Greene, Chief Scientist of Onyx's neuro-science division._


	6. Chapter 6

[ _The message starts with the sound of a Scroll-transmission in progress. After approximately seven seconds, the initial message cuts off and a new message starts. Technicians estimate several recordings were made, [DATA EXPUNGED] of which have already been destroyed.]_

"… _and the way I understand it, these experiments were all topped off by two big ones. One called WALLSTORM and one called Catalyst. No idea what the latter means. Something about a girl and a suit. But the former…hoho, the former."_

 _[at this point, the speaker consumes a certain quantity of an unknown liquid.]_

" _WALLSTORM was Onyx's first attempt to take the abilities of these Grimm and put them into a human. Just put them there, hope it works. Bunch of idiots didn't think it through. Sent the test subjects utterly insane. Semblance is…genetic. Unique, but also genetic. When they took the woman they called Brimstone, they messed her up. Badly. Before little Yang's birth, even. Dunno what Grimm they were working with –guess that big one- but it didn't work. Oh the lies they spread. They even tried to stuff her away in their underground prison complex. Didn't work so well, either. Their 'Brimstone' escaped, killed a bunch of their dudes and went straight back to her man and kid. Except they had already driven her insane. She couldn't take care of Taiyang anymore, either."_

 _[the speaker attempts to consume more liquid, but analysis of alcohol pattern and soundwaves suggest the container was dropped.]_

" _Damnit…no idea where she went after the house burned down. None of us found her yet. Brimstone…come on Raven, where'd you go?"_

 _Unidentified enemy contact, hacked data pad located on-site._

* * *

 **Beacon Academy -23:14**

Weiss Schnee paced down the hallway with long strides, her long hair trailing after her. Her desire to return to her dorm and find some sleep was easily overruled by her desire to find out the truth. In the past few weeks, her family had gone from prestigious to doubtful to completely corrupted. Her quarrel with her father was irrelevant to the evil he had committed himself to. And if she was right –which she always was- her father's crimes did not stop with the oppression and trafficking of an entire population.

This time, she wanted the truth. The complete truth. As such, calling her father would be useless. He would simply the lies and excuses and accuse her of treason and lies of her own, which was not something she could use. Neither could Winter help her with this. No, Winter would make this harder. As the sword of the Schnee Dust Company, she would defend its honour with all the strength she could muster. Her arrogance would blind her in that –make her irrational.

With her older sister out of the picture, there were few people left who Weiss could trust with this. Because, in the end, the details were just too accurate to ignore. The slavery, the hatred, the violence…it was exactly the way her father worked. Winter would never see that though; she would rather see Onyx burn than to listen to any form of criticism and for that matter, she was in her right. But that was a different case altogether. Right now, there was only one thing that Weiss wanted to know. Had her father truly committed this crime? Because if he had…if he had, there was change that General Ironwood wasn't all that he claimed to be either. If her father had truly condoned the cruel and inhuman way the Faunus group had been treated with the SDC…well, that meant Onyx was right. And they would all be in for a world of trouble.

Weiss reached for her scroll and looked at the contacts. The Schnees in her contact list…both of them were a part of her family. Both of them would be one way of addressing this problem. Frost Schnee and Winter Schnee, two completely different paths to the future. Winter had no idea what was going on; her loyalty to father and Ironwood bordered in naivety and after everything that Weiss had seen –after everything that she had been through- naivety was the last thing that she could use.

But Frost was the compete opposite of Winter. Whereas she was naïve, idealistic and proud, Frost was a nihilistic, misanthropic bastard who loathed himself as much as the people who know of his name did. It was sad, really. Frost's bitterness with life had alienated him from everything and everyone who might be the slightest bit of kind to him. Why, on their very first meeting, before Weiss had even known about his true name, he had introduced himself by insulting her family, her friends and her ideals without even the slightest bit of provocation. He was, without a doubt, the nastiest person she knew. And that included the likes of Torchwick and the White Fang.

But just like everyone affiliated with the collection of lies and crimes that called itself Onyx, Frost had reasons that were just too powerful to ignore. Most people knew him as a remorseless sociopath; a murderer who had turned his back on everything he had stood for, shooting innocent people just for the fun. The media had not been kind on any of them.

But Weiss knew better. If the Vale News Network was to be believed, Onyx had stolen Frost from his home when he had been only eight years old. If Will and the others were to be believed, the White Fang and the Company were to blame. Her own nephew, spirited away without a trace. No matter who was to blame, something that like left scars.

And the Schnee family was very adept at hiding scars.

So…what was her role in this? What had the SDC done that Frost loathed them so much? And more importantly, why did Will feel like _she_ was the one who could be blamed? Because, frankly enough, that couldn't be chalked up to mental illness anymore. In spite of all his faults, he had never reacted with violence that wasn't instinctive or ingrained. At least, not against her. It wasn't like him. And that meant that, somehow, she was truly responsible for a part of this problem.

Weiss sighed. It was late and she was tired. Her throat was sore, after that PTSD-riddled pest had lost his patience with her. Her hand didn't sting that much anymore though, thankfully. She…didn't lose her patience like that very often. Raising her hand at someone like that…it wasn't like her. She had never truly slapped someone before and there was a _very_ good reason for that. Having been on the receiving end too often…no, it definitely wasn't like her.

This entire situation with Frost and Onyx and the SDC was such a darned mess! It would be so much easier if they all just disappeared and left her alone. Of course, that was unlikely. And unfair to boot.

No, this had gone on long enough. Played with her head enough. She had crossed a line that she had never wanted to cross and now that she had, there wasn't really any going back.

And yet…was it wrong of her to feel glad? Glad that she had never lost her patience with any of her friends, never with Ruby? A mistake like this…she hadn't truly hurt anyone with it, as it was now. Because…well, if Ruby had done something like that to _her_ , she would have felt more than hurt. Betrayed, violated even. And Ruby would have felt the same way. It didn't justify anything, but Wil had been at the receiving end of a _lot_ more violence than Ruby. Getting slapped in the face shouldn't have faced him in the slightest.

Weiss stopped walking and lowered her head. If that were true, why had he responded like that? Such viciousness and anger…was that really because of her?

Maybe. In the end, both of them had crossed a line and both of them felt regret. That meant both of them could move on.

Gritting her teeth, Weiss felt the desire to throw her Scroll out the window. This didn't work! It only made everything more complicated. She didn't know how to get in contact with her nephew and she didn't know how to even _try_ to understand Will. She wasn't Ruby and she wasn't Yang. It was getting late and she was tired.

She still hadn't reached a proper conclusion by the time she had returned to her dormitories. For the moment, she would focus on finding a way to contact Frost and hear the truth. Not the SDC's truth, not Onyx' truth, _his_ truth.

"Back again?" a quiet voice muttered, greeting her when she wandered over to her bed.

"Ruby?" Weiss whispered back. Blake and Yang were already sleeping.

"You were gone a long time. Long conversation?"

"Not really," she replied. "We were…done rather quickly."

"Oh." Ruby groggily rose from her bed and glanced at Weiss, who started undressing. "That doesn't sound good."

"There was a conflict. We both behaved poorly."

The young redhead sighed and rubbed her eyes. "Poorly? Was he upset?"

With a pang of guilt, Weiss remembered that he hadn't been insulted by her behaviour at all. A little bit upset, but only because he had been tactless, not because of the way she spoke to him. "Well…we quickly finished our initial conversation."

"So what got you to behave poorly?" She paused. "Wait, how did _he_ behave poorly?"

"Yeah…it grew somewhat physical. But don't worry!" she quickly added once she saw Ruby's alarmed expression. "It's under control."

"Weiss, physical? How is that under control!" Ruby yelped. "What happened? Where were you?"

The concern in her voice was endearing. Audible, too. "Nothing serious." Alright, that was a lie. And Ruby always saw when she lied. "I said some things he didn't like and he started talking about Frost and the Company. Then I slapped him and he grabbed me by my throat."

" _He what?"_

" _Ssshh!"_

Blake stirred and Yang turned around, pulling the cushion away from underneath her head and jamming it over her ears.

"As I said, we resolved it!" Weiss hastily said.

"Weiss, this is _not_ good!" The redhead whispered. "What on Remnant were you talking about that you _slapped_ him? And why did he react so violently to you!"

Though it was obvious that the other two inhabitants of their room had already been awaken, they remained courteous enough to pretend to be asleep. "I shouldn't have hit him. I…I just lost my patience. It's wrong and I know that! But…after all this mess with my family and after Frost, I want to know the truth."

"He couldn't tell you?"

Weiss sighed. "I get the feeling he doesn't want to tell me. But he blames me –at least in part." She fell silent, glancing at her leader in bed. The time since feeling awkward had long since passed, yet she still felt a bit vulnerable when Ruby saw her without clothing. She quickly donned her pajamas and climbed up to Ruby's bed. "I want to find out what truly happened. If the Company is really guilty of all the crimes they are accused of, then I can make a choice."

"But if the SDC is guilty, the chance that Atlas, Mistral and Vacuo are guilty as well becomes much bigger," Ruby unhappily replied.

"Yes. And if they are, we will know that we made the right choice."

"And what choice will you make then?"

Weiss smiled and gently placed an arm around Ruby's shoulders. She _really_ hoped that Blake and Yang had closed their eyes. "I will know to leave the Company behind me and find a way to get my father to step down."

"That's a big step. Are you sure you're up for that?"

"Right now, my father has more problems than I have. And I have wrestled with some _very_ meaningful issues, if you catch my drift. After everything that we've been through, I think it's only logical that we can move forwards."

"And you believe finding Frost will help you?"

Weiss shook her head. "It's hardly that simple. But it's the first step. And now that I know which one to take, I'm that much closer to changing the way things are."

With a soft chuckle, Ruby said, "By teaming up with the one individual your family despises the most."

"They obviously do not like him, seeing as none of them even tried to get him back. I wonder what Winter will say."

"Winter…your sister, right?"

Ah…right. "Yes. She was supposed to visit Vale a while ago, but I don't think she'll come anytime soon now."

"Well, I don't blame her. Things are a little bit hectic right now." Ruby ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "Did you manage to finish your homework?"

Weiss blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You know, the homework for Professor Johnson's lesson tomorrow morning."

Damn, she had completely forgotten about that! "Please tell me you-"

"Nope. Forgot about it as well. So did Yang and Blake."

Weiss shook her head. "I can't believe this. All the things we think of and we forgot our homework?"

"Ah well…Johnson will understand. He's a cool guy. It's the first time we forgot, right?"

As it turned out the next morning, that proved to be a rather big mistake on Ruby's part."

"WRONG!" The Professor shouted as Weiss feebly told him that team RWBY had thought their homework irrelevant due to the current situations. His long, thick cigar wobbled dangerously on his lip as he chewed both it and her completely out. "KEEPING TRACK OF WARTIME RECORDS IS A VITAL PART OF SCHEDULING, ESPECIALLY IN TIMES LIKE THESE!"

"We could have seen that coming," Yang muttered.

In a heartbeat, the dark-skinned Professor stood in front of her. "You got lip, soldier?"

"No, not at all!" Yang quickly called

Johnson pulled his cap closer over his head. "Damn right you don't. Alright, which one of you greenhorns is next? Adamant, report!"

Lisa Adamant proudly displayed a completely-blank paper. "I wrote it myself, sir."

The Professor was not amused. "YOUR ACTIONS DO NOT AMUSE ME, ADAMANT!"

And not even team JNPR had managed to fulfil the Academy part of Beacon. Professor Johnson leant in close to Jaune and exhaled a large plume of smoke. "Where's your report, son?"

"Ehm…missing in action, sir."

"KEEP LOOKING!"

It was only when he stopped next to team CRDL that the Professor found something that did not rile him up. "Your report, Winchester?"

Cardin silently delivered the homework, flinching as he did. There was no need for that though, as the Professor took a large puff from his cigar and quietly sighed. "Little rough around the edges…but it'll do. Teams RWBY, JNPR and LACG? You get to enjoy the full benefits of this classroom tonight, as you replace the report you missed out on, twice. Am I clear?"

The few half-hearted mumbles that he got did not amuse him very much.

"I SAID, AM I CLEAR?"

"Sir yes sir!"

"Hmm. Damn right I am. Now if you all open your books at page seventy-nine, you'll see a very distinctive image…"

Thankfully, the lesson continued normally after that, though the Sergeant-Professor did not look pleased at all. Despite his bombastic way of acting and speaking, his demeanour was off. Just a bit weird. He was almost…well, stressed.

No. That couldn't be. Weiss knew that she had to had made a mistake somewhere; the Johnson did not get stressed. It was as Nora said; he ate stress and used it to make his cigar grow. A strange comparison, but more apt than him being pressured.

"He doesn't look okay," Ruby then commented after the Sergeant-Professor granted them ten minutes to work on an assignment. "He's distracted. Do you think he is sick?"

"Not possible," Blake said. "His cigar filters sickness out. I think he's just tired; after the Breach, the Professors have all been running multiple jobs in Vale."

"Guess someone needs to keep the new military police in line," Yang chimed in. "Don't think Port could do that, do you?"

It was only when Professor Johnson sat down and reached for a glass of water that Weiss realized that she hadn't been too far off the mark. Something was definitely wrong. She wanted to comment about it to Ruby, but Yang beat her to the punch with something else.

"Where's Will?" The blonde asked, much to Weiss's alarm. "He's supposed to follow classes again, right?"

"Warfare Module, Yang," Blake replied without taking her eyes off of her book. A textbook, thankfully. "Hits home a bit too hard. You should already know that."

Yang shook her head. "Only when we talked about the Arcadia-Luna incident. It's the one module he excels at; he can't write worth a damn, knows nothing of history and hates field trips."

"I thought he said he could write?" Ruby inquired. "Did he lie?"

"Yeah," Yang replied, shoving her book aside and looking at her scroll. "He can type, but he _really_ can't write. Holds the pen like a knife, too."

If that was true, how had he managed to avoid making homework? The teachers had been completely unaware of his identity and none of them really seemed like the types to just let a lack of homework slide. Even his studies had secrets, for crying out loud!

"Students," Johnson then spoke, breaking the silence. "Grab your weapons and gear; we've got company."

"Eh…what?" Blake muttered, reaching for her sword with visible hesitation. "Why?"

She wasn't the only one who was confused by the sudden command. Of the present first-year students, only team CRDL reacted with the ingrained-reflexes that the Sergeant-Professor had previously drilled into his students.

With or without stress though, Johnson's didactic skills hadn't grown weak. He was quick to…observe the lack of motivation and he handled accordingly. "DID I STUTTER? MOVE LIKE YOU GOT A PURPOSE!"

That got the students fired up. Weiss jumped at his sudden shouting of her teacher and immediately reached for Myrtenaster, only to realize that it was still lying in two pieces in her room. "Wait, I don't have my weapon!"

"Don't worry Weiss," Yang replied with a big smile. She already had her gauntlets at the ready. "We'll cover you. It's probably just a drill."

The doors were flung loudly flung open and Professors Port and Oobleck barged into the lecture hall, prompting the ever-keen Sergeant-Professor to snap off a salute. "Sirs!" he barked.

"They are here," Oobleck called, more in panic than Weiss had seen him during the fight with the White Fang on the train. "At our borders!"

"Who?" Johnson asked, his eyebrows furrowing over his dark eyes. "The Grimm?"

"Worse," Port replied. "Onyx! They've attacked a city the south and we're not sure why. We need everyone to rise up and strike at those monsters! If they wish to take their war to Vale, we will show them the true spirit of warriors!"

Nobody cheered or yelled like Professor Port probably expected. They all stood and, with the exception of Weiss, readied their weapons. It was a good thing that Johnson always wanted them to wear their combat outfit prior to arriving at his lessons.

"We're gonna fly them straight to the warzone?" The Sergeant-Professor asked. "Right away?"

"There is no choice," Oobleck replied. "General Ironwood has located an air-assault to the north as well. We are rerouting our forces."

"Not that we would throw our students in their path," Port then added. He huffed. "Preposterous! No, they will handle logistics, communication, patrols and supplies. Exceedingly-important operations for sure. Come Tanzanite, Ozpin will need you as well."

"Copy, one moment." Johnson reached under his desk and pulled out what had to be the most massive rifle made in the history of rifles. It was the same one he had wielded during team RWBY's mission to the besieged village in the east. "Come on kids, nice and easy. Fall out!"

Confused and distracted, the several teams of first-year students filed out of the classroom and made their way outside. Weiss wasn't sure what to think, between being completely unarmed and having never actually faced Onyx itself.

"Well, that was sudden," Yang remarked as she checked her ammo. "Why would they need us fighting Onyx if we've got this military police running around? Or Ironwood with his robot army?"

"Logistics," Blake replied. "Plenty of experience for us to get, supporting the others fighting. Ruby…what do you think?"

Team RWBY's leader was silent for a few moments. "I think," she then slowly said, glancing at team JNPR walking several meters ahead of them, "that it's odd we know of this attack. It's not like them to give a sign or anything. It's not Will though."

"Do we know what sort of attack it is?" Blake continued sounding awfully calm about this all. "Why some abandoned part of Vale and not a tactical point?"

"Knowing Onyx, they either have some horrible lab there, or think there's something important," Ruby said. "Maybe both."

Weiss could not overhear the other students talking, but she could guess what they were so gloomy about. Thought teams RWBY, JNPR and LACG had had some pretty tough times together, they had rarely ever actually fought Onyx directly. Especially after the revelation of what they _would_ be fighting. To say that she wasn't looking forward to it was putting it lightly; she dreaded having to fight their soldiers. Not just because they were, at their base, child soldiers, but because they would be fighting to the death. Cal and Lily were mild examples and even they had confessed to having killed both soldiers as civilians in war. There would be no room for hesitation and no room for errors.

And knowing that she would eventually have to kill children made it all the worse. She was fairly certain that none of them wanted to see the action this time.

Too soon they reached the dropships that would take them to the battlefield. The various teachers were there, as well as some Atlas soldiers who had not been at Beacon before. Even one or two people who looked like Hunters.

This time, Sergeant-Professor Johnson took team RWBY while Professor Oobleck took JNPR. "Alright kids, listen up," he quietly said as he loaded them onto the ship. "The bastards are hitting multiple targets at the same time. They think that they can keep us distracted long enough to get their filthy gauntlets on whatever it is they want. You're gonna prove 'em wrong."

"What are we going to do, sir?" Ruby asked him, using the correct honorific. "Fight or support?"

"Both. There's a fat chance that Onyx will pour their troops into the abandoned districts at the edge of the city. Ironwood's been lending us soldiers and robots, let them take the brunt. You are there to support them. Maintain communications, stay on the look-out and keep an eye on anything that manages to sneak in."

"What about you, sir?" Blake asked.

"Yours truly will be helping Atlas' troops to root out the assault. If you're lucky, no faceless SOB is gonna get past me. If they do…they're gonna run into the most badass students Beacon has to offer. Talkin' to you, RWBY. You'll receive your orders when we arrive."

Ruby saluted. "Sir."

The doors of the dropship closed, obscuring the comfortable image of Beacon Academy and officially taking them underway.

"Well," Ruby quietly said as she grabbed a hold of one of the handles on the ceiling. "I guess this is what we trained for. Sort of."

"Street-to-street combat with Grimm?" Yang replied. "Sure. Why not. Street-to-street combat with Onyx? Yeah…sorry Rubes. No."

"I know, I know…but hey, we might not even have to fight them!"

Yeah…somehow, Weiss doubted that very much.

The morning was still early when the first reports of combat reached the internal radio of the dropship. The initial accounts were somewhat…disjointed. There was fighting going on, but from what it sounded like, nobody was certain where the actual attack was coming from. Figures had been spotted, airships had been tracked, but the brunt of the assault had yet to arrive. Odd.

Suspicious.

"Remember when we could just go to one of our friends when Onyx pulled antics?" Yang eventually remarked. "Those were good times."

Weiss snorted. "Depends on your definition of 'good'."

"They were better times," Ruby said. "More clear baddies, more clear goodies. Now it's not that clear anymore."

"Goodies?" Blake asked, raising her eyebrow.

For some reason, Ruby shot a nervous look at Weiss before replying. "Well, you know. Good guys. Allies and stuff."

"Right. Stuff."

"Buckle up ladies," Johnson barked. "Landing's gonna be ROUGH!"

Half a minute after their Sergeant-Professor gave his order, the airship calmly touched down without so much as a bit turbulence.

The doors opened and Weiss braced herself, ready to dart for cover the second the enemy fire started.

Nothing. No Onyx soldiers running between the buildings, no artillery shells pocketing the ground and no enemy vehicles anywhere. Land and air were clear, with the only thing that could be remotely threatening being a part of the city that looked suspiciously like Mountain Glenn. Stone buildings, reinforced, gloomy and depressing. The sky was still dark, the houses were devoid of life and Professor Port was already taking team LACG out for recon. Great.

"Looks cosy," Yang sarcastically said.

"Anyone else having flashbacks? No? Just me? Alrightie then…"

Johnson followed after them, holding his huge rifle in one hand as he communicated with Oobleck over his scroll. It didn't look like it had a melee form; was it just for long-ranged combat?

"Alright ladies, we'll hunker down in one of these buildings. Establish an HQ. Professor Oobleck is already on-site."

"Sir?" Blake cautiously asked. "Where is the enemy attack?"

The Sergeant-Professor took a good, long whiff of his cigar and slowly exhaled. "Let's just get to that HQ first, Belladonna. We'll brief you there."

Weiss and Ruby exchanged a look, but they didn't respond. It looked like the Professor's somewhat nervous attitude at the beginning of the lesson wasn't simply a coincidence.

The five of them made their way towards one of the larger buildings, which looked like it had once been an office complex. Oobleck and JNPR were already there, but they seemed to keep to themselves. Jaune didn't look so well. He was pale. Didn't even greet them.

Professor Oobleck stepped towards them and scraped his throat. "We have established a temporary fall-back site," he explained. "You are to immediate move towards this position once enemy troops break through and- " he quickly coughed- "-neutralizing them is not possible. Once there, you will contact one of us and determine whether risking a counter-attack is worth it, taking into account the enemy's numbers and assets."

Yang raised her hand.

"Yes?"

"Doc, what _are_ their numbers? Who are we even fighting?"

The Professor pushed his glasses higher up his nose. "An excellent question. This morning, multiple individuals resembling the average Onyx trooper were spotted moving towards this location. Mere minutes later, an air attack struck General Ironwood's fleet. We expect more incursions at this very moment. The enemy's numbers are unknown. They could be two, they could be twenty. But without their air support or armoured units, they will be…quickly removed."

"Great," Yang quietly murmured. "Because outnumbering the enemy _always_ works."

"Where is Lisa's team?" Ruby asked, likely choosing to ignore her sister's remark. "Aren't they supposed to be here as well?"

"Team LACG's special 'circumstances' allow them to serve as scouts in a rather independent roll, " Johnson explained without batting an eye. "They're out there somewhere. We've got second-years and other teams running around as well, but Beacon's spread thin as it is. We need RWBY and JNPR on defensive roles."

That actually made sense. Team LACG wasn't exactly the best-functioning team; they had a brash and arrogant leader, an stoic ex-police member as her second-in-command, a laid-back demolitions expert and a girl who had spent a long time as an unwitting test subject for Onyx's more inhumane experiments. It made them nearly impossible to work with, but they had an effective dynamic between the four of them. And Alessa's special ability –a side-effect of Onyx's experiments- allowed her to act like a really effective scout.

But that also meant JNPR and RWBY would be on their own with this. Not very promising.

After Johnson's remark, it became quiet again. It didn't take Oobleck very long to decide to take JNPR with him to a different location, where they could keep watch for enemy incursions. Johnson took off as well, explaining that he needed to check up on other teams once in a while as well.

"You should make yourself useful as well," he told them as he left. "Remember: upon first contact, withdraw. Then use your knowledge of your enemy to decide on a counter-attack if necessary."

Which was easier said than done. While the likes of Will and Alice were exceptionally rare –at least, Weiss hoped so- their enemy was for from incompetent. Alone and one-on-one, there was a fifty-fifty chance of losing. Unacceptable odds.

"I still think this is a trap," Blake said as soon as the Sergeant-Professor had left. "They wouldn't telegraph their position. No way."

"There's got to be something else they want," Ruby mused. "Either the attack on Ironwood's fleet is distraction, or _this_ is the distraction. If it's the former, we'll be preventing them from getting what they want."

"And if it's the latter, we'll just be playing their game," Yang finished her line of thought. "Well, at least it won't be our fault if everything goes wrong."

"That's a huge relief," Weiss bit at her. "I don't know if you noticed, but Onyx always get what they want."

"That's up for debate. They didn't get world peace and they didn't destroy the Grimm, did they?"

"That's not what I meant, you dunce! And you know that!"

Ruby interrupted them before Yang could give her retort. "Anyway, I think it is for the best if we split up for this. Yang and I will scout out the left path. Blake, Weiss, I think it's for the best if you two set up a perimeter and guard this place. It's safer that way."

Blake nodded, but Weiss didn't really feel like just accepting that command. However, halfway through opening her mouth to disagree, she realized that she had no better alternative. She was unarmed, had no training in hand-to-hand relevant enough to aid her when it came to facing down Onyx' soldiers and her skills could better be employed helping with communication and logistics than throwing them into the field now.

"Fine," she sighed. "Just come back in one piece, alright?"

"I've got Yang with me!" Ruby replied with a smile, pulling an around her sister's waist. "I'll be fine!"

If Yang's close relation with Will wouldn't get in her way when she faced down soldiers similar to her, _then_ the two sisters would be fine. If not…well, Yang had killed before. Without intending to at least, but the instinct was there. Unfortunate it may be, it might well help in this situation.

"Weiss and I will start on the perimeter," Blake said. "Good luck."

The Heiress sighed and glanced at Ruby. "If you so much as _scratch_ yourself out there, you will be in huge trouble!"

Ruby saluted. "Don't lose your skirt."

Weiss bit back a less innocent version of the same remark and settled for simply following her teammate, moving out of the building and towards the borders of the abandoned houses. It surprised her to see how abandoned this place really was; the buildings had been built with a sturdy design; lots of stone, thick walls and a rather difficult-to-navigate terrain.

But they didn't find anything. No footsteps, no signs of forced entry, nothing. The empty house led towards an adjacent one via a broken wall, but there was nothing of particular notice. Another door, shattered furniture…just nothing special.

"So where do we start with the perimeter?" Weiss asked, looking around the interior of the house. "This place is a mess."

"I didn't exactly expect a paradise," Blake replied. "This place has been abandoned for a long time."

"So you know this place?"

The girl shrugged. "We uhm…we used to stage weapon trades and other businesses here. This place was deemed too difficult to protect a few years back. Dunno why."

"With 'we', you mean…"

"Yup."

"Ah. So why was it deemed too dangerous?"

Blake sighed and gave Weiss a rather vulnerable look. The Heiress made sure to look as…compassionate…as she could. She didn't want to give her friend the wrong idea. "Too many Grimm. Something attracted them to this place. We had to…clear them out every time."

Wait, that didn't make any sense. "Blake, if the White Fang had to clear the Grimm out every time, where are they now?"

"What, the Grimm? I- oh. That's not good." The two of them immediately snapped to attention, with Blake reaching for her weapon and glancing out the windows. "Someone killed them all. Again."

"Who-?"

With an alarmed look, Blake whirled around and turned towards the door. "Someone's here," she suddenly said, pulling her weapon.

"What-?"

Weiss didn't get much further before the door exploded, sending large pieces of metal and debris plummeting towards her and Blake. Weiss standing the closest to the door, received the full brunt of the attack. She heard herself drop to the ground, her Aura struggling to keep up with the damage. The cold floor collided with her back and for a brief moment, she couldn't breathe. Her muscles clenched up and she gasped, desperately trying to pull in the air that her body refused to take in.

Someone walked through the opening of the door. For a brief moment, she thought it was Cal, or Ash. The figure was smaller than them though. Had a different armour, too.

A small, black rifle rested in his arms. He glanced down at her and raised it, aligning it with her head-

Out of nowhere, Blake launched herself at the soldier and nearly split the stone walls around him in half with her sword. The rocks crumbled and the soldier responded by shifting his aim, trying to get his rifle in her direction.

She gave him no time. With a quick, underhanded strike, she bisected the sword and forced him back.

"Weiss!" she yelled. "Get up!"

In the brief moment that Blake was distracted, the soldier pulled two things from his armour. One Weiss recognized as a long, thick knife. The other one she only recognized when the Onyx trooper had pressed the button and the entire house came crashing down around them. The ceiling collapsed and large chunks of stone and other heavy items impacted on the floor. The walls crumbled and fell apart and Weiss frantically tried to avoid being trapped by the debris.

The bastard had rigged the building to blow!

The Onyx soldier was in her way, but Blake was faster still. She grabbed Weiss and made for one of the holes in the wall that briefly appeared, soon to be closed off by the falling rocks and metal.

But her timing was impeccable and the two of them tumbled across the ground. Something hit Weiss against the back of her head and she whited out for several moments. Spots danced across her blurry vision and she felt sharp things digging into her skin through her clothing. Rocks. She was lying on the ground?

No good. She had to get up, get back into the fight.

Slowly, Weiss crawled back to her feet, sluggishly leaning against the shattered wall for support. Through the hazy and blurry battlefield, she found Blake again. She was fighting with a dark figure in hand-to-hand combat, her sword slashing through the air at ferocious speeds. The soldier she fought was unarmed, safe for a large knife that he wielded in his left hand.

Blake jumped back to avoid a stab at her ribs, then stepped aside and used her Semblance to create one of her after-images. It flickered and faded away when the black-clad soldier struck at it, allowing Blake an easy strike from behind. She leaped at the soldier and shouted, swinging the sheath of her sword like a cleaver. Only the first attack connected with his armoured body. He immediately spun around and blocked the follow-up strike with his arms, using his Aura to soak up the damage.

He was give no quarter; Blake pressed hard, constantly diving back and forth to avoid having to test her strength against his unknown martial capacity. Her strikes carved deep gashes in the stone floor, landing with such force that each one sent the soldier further back.

They did nothing to actually faze him; at one point, he deflected a strike off of his left arm and bashed Blake against the side of her head with his elbow. The attack disoriented her and she staggered back, clutching her head and dropping the cleaver-sheath.

Weiss cursed her own weakness without a weapon; Yang wouldn't have had this problem, Will and Frost wouldn't have had this problem!

But she was not powerless. She reached along the ground, searching for anything that she could use as a weapon. Her fingers closed around something solid and cold –a long piece of rebar with pieces of stone attached to it.

It would have to do.

Even as the soldier grabbed Blake by her arm and raised his knife to stab at her throat, Weiss lifted the improvised weapon and smashed it against the back of his neck. His Aura repulsed it, but the attack briefly knocked him off balance and Blake managed to free herself.

Something hard impacted on Weiss's stomach and she doubled over, clutching wrapping her arms around herself in an attempt to guard herself.

"No," Blake snapped. Weapons discharged, but none of them were aimed at the Heiress. She dropped to the ground again and looked up, watching Blake pull off several shots with her pistol before dodging the inevitable counter-attack that she lured the soldier in. Her sword flashed through the air and the soldier deflected it again, with his right arm.

This time Blake ducked and kicked at the trooper's groin, before following up by striking him against the helmet with the pommel of her blade.

His visor cracked, but it held. And their strikes grew faster and faster, producing bright sparks and loud cracks each and every time the two blades impacted on each other in mid-air. Blake's synergy with her Semblance was perfect; every time the soldier struck, she would block or avoid his attack and place the after-image of herself in her place, dashing to a different location. She was just so _fast_ ; she pounced like a cat and struck with lethal precision. Her sword was a blur as she navigated around the Onyx trooper several times in quick succession, confusing and disorienting him. For all his training and discipline, he just wasn't fast enough.

With a shout, Blake broke through the soldier's defences and shattered his knife into multiple pieces, carving a bloody trail through the battered armour on his arm as well.

Then, amidst the ruined buildings and fallen debris, Blake struck her fatal blow. With the sheath of her sword discarded and stuck somewhere in the rubble, the wounded and no-doubt desperate Faunus slashed the across his chest, whirled around and sank her blade deep into his abdomen, pushing it hard enough for the black metal to protrude from his back. Intertwined, the two fighters fell against each other, the broken knife falling from the trooper's hand. He grunted and coughed, gripping at nothing with clawed fingers. Blake didn't pull away –she stayed motionless in front of her slain enemy, allowing him to stay close to her. Why? What for?

One of the soldier's arms went limp, while the other one went for Blake's head. With a ripping sound he pulled away her bow, revealing her vulnerable animal ears to the dust-riddled air. Blake grimaced and pulled her sword back with a disgusting sound, spraying dark blood over the ground. The soldier sank through his knees, looking up at the girl he had failed to kill.

As the dying soldier fell to the ground, Weiss shook off the dizziness and stumbled over towards her exhausted teammate, who only had eyes for her fallen enemy. She knelt by his side and folded her weapon back into its pistol form, aiming it at the head of the Onyx trooper. With her other hand she reached for his helmet –remarkably similar to Will's old one- and wrenched it away from his head, revealing the pale and bloody face of a kid who couldn't be much older than Ruby.

Weiss grimaced and looked away, her heart painfully clenching together. Blake didn't look away, didn't deny what she had done. Weiss couldn't bring herself to look, but she knew that she had to. _This_ was their future. This was what fighting Onyx would mean.

The boy's eyes were hollow. Dead, empty and cold. Blood sipped through his thin lips and he grabbed the wound on his abdomen with a weak hand, helplessly reaching for anything he could use as a weapon with the other. When he glanced at Blake though, that changed. Something in his eyes gave away, as if he had to work to concentrate. The corners of his mouth stiffly rose, barely enough to be noticeable. With a bloody hand he reached for Blake's head, slowly bringing the slippery gauntlet to her ears.

 _Faunus ears,_ Weiss thought.

The fallen child soldier ran his fingers over Blake's ears, his hard eyes locked in something else than the cold, unyielding look that his people always had. It was if he was strangely amused by this. As if being stabbed and about to bleed to death didn't faze him at all. Which, given the nature of Onyx's "training regimes", couldn't be that far away from the truth.

He exhaled loudly and suddenly, nearly startling Weiss. Bubbles of blood formed under his nose and at the corners of his mouth. He jerked once, violently, and took a ragged, choking breath. His hand went for Blake's throat and he even managed to get halfway upright before Blake stopped him, placing her own hand against his chest. A casual, gentle movement.

Weiss couldn't see Blake's eyes.

His sudden movement brought to a halt, the soldier dropped backwards and went limp. His arms, slick with his own blood, fell to the ground without sound. Something faded away in his eyes, frightening Weiss. His entire body just…stopped. Eyes glazed over, his chest not moving. Not even a twitch. Like a puppet with its strings cut off.

She had never seen anybody die before. It was sickening, disturbing.

Blake gently reached out and closed his eyes. He had tried to kill Weiss and her, yet she was so compassionate. So serene. Too serene, in fact.

"Come on," she quietly said, wiping the blood from her blade. "We should find the others."

Weiss didn't move. Her legs didn't respond to her will; like they had been nailed to the ground.

"Weiss?"

The Heiress swallowed and met Blake's eyes. Her raven-haired teammate had not managed to avoid the splatters of blood, which stained her clothes and her chest. Was this the first human she had killed? The first child? "Blake-?"

"I said _come_ , Weiss."

Her sharp tone shook the Heiress from her stupor and she nodded. "S-sure."

In silence, Weiss followed her friend back to the initial rendezvous, where they were supposed to contact the rest if they had hostile contact. As they walked, she could nearly feel the pressure that Blake had to be experiencing. The Faunus-girl walked with her head bowed and her shoulders completely tensed up. Her fists were clenched and she had tied the torn ribbon around the grip of her weapon instead of her ears again.

"Blake," Weiss tried to find the words to talk about this, but she couldn't think of anything tactful. "About what just happened…"

Her friend did not interrupt her. That was a good sign.

"…you did the right thing. You saved our lives!"

"At what cost?" Blake quietly replied. No anger, just…that monotone sadness.

"It wasn't as if you had a choice!" What was she really trying to say, anyway? That she was grateful? Or that it wasn't Blake's fault? Who was to blame, anyway? Onyx, for pressing the borders? Beacon for sending kids to take care of kids? "You did what you had to do."

"That is their justification as well."

Their. White Fang? Operatives? It didn't matter! "Blake, I think-"

Blake turned around, glaring at Weiss with sudden anger. "I don't want to talk about it!"

The Heiress cringed, but this time, she could understand. She could comply. "S-sure. We should contact the others though; they'll want to know."

* * *

" _Fucking WALLSTORM…no wonder Yang got her Semblance so young. Wonder if those bastards got to Summer as well. You hearing me, blank-faced pieces of shit? I hope you do. 'Cause I'll come for you all if needed. Because you messed up, mister Themeluesi. Founder…my ass. Now I know who to talk to about your dirty secrets...I wonder how 'Brimstone' would like having a little chat with you cowards. I get him to talk, I'll figure out where she went. Once we get the gang back…ho, you better watch yourself. You've been ruined enough little girls. You won't get to them too."_


	7. Chapter 7

_Right, I think that I should mention that this fanfiction deals with some pretty heavy stuff. Apart from certain aspects of war, I will also be touching on subjects such as depression, suicide, mental illnesses and torture. More importantly, I will flag the parts where things get rather dark with the appropriate warnings, but might also be mentioned in chapters without warnings._

 _ **Flamel15K:**_ _ah, that makes things easier. Don't worry; Winter will get her scenes ;)_

 _ **Lord-Sylph:**_ _thanks. I take pride in my action-sequences._

 _ **Guest:**_ _oh boy, we're just getting started!_

* * *

" _I can hardly believe it, but the Themeluesi was right all along. The readings we received during the tests are…absolute. A full Bond, permanent, more intense than anything we have seen with other subjects. The optimality-curve lies in female civilians, age category fourteen to sixteen, with the added traits of being untrained in body and untainted of mind. Filtering the population of Remnant with those readings, including rare Aura mutations or manifestations, still puts us at roughly one-hundred potential candidates. With even a dozen Operatives with Catalysts, mankind need never fear anything ever again. Unfortunately, survival-rate is not that high._

 _On a lighter note, Subject Alpha-II's Catalyst has still not stopped screaming, which seemed to have overridden all of his control as well. I suspect that she will move on from the feral part of the mind to the human one in about two weeks, with an additional three weeks for her to regain her sanity. Alpha-II just needs to be monitored closely for those collective five weeks, as he might find himself unable to properly control his own body. It's not that strange, seeing as he now has to share it…"_

 _-FIELD RECORDING 13A, Professor K. Greene, Chief Scientist of Onyx's neuro-science division._

* * *

This time, Headmaster Ozpin had to be honest with himself; General Ironwood was right. In this specific scenario, there was no alternate way of seeing things. And it looked like the General saw that too. He wasn't demanding any actions; he wasn't blaming anyone for a fault –he was plain desperate. A desperation that was unlike him.

" _Half the fleet, Ozpin. They came over the cliffs –they never come over the cliffs."_

"And how was this hostile involved?"

" _That…that thing led them. Destroyed several airships and boarded the flagship, at night. Night! And that's not the worst."_

"Calm down, James," Ozpin said as he prepared several files on his scroll. "I read your report. You have my condolences, as well."

" _Thank you."_ The general hesitated, then said, _"I've never seen anything like it. It lead an army of Grimm over the cliffs, right on top of the patrolling fleet when they passed over the city. When I saw the footage…I wasn't sure what to think."_

"What did he look like, general?" Ozpin kindly asked. "Did you see him?"

" _Him? How did you-?"_

"No matter. You said he killed two Huntresses? Aboard the flagship?"

" _Yes. And then it –he- crashed the ship into the city. While all armed forces moved to engage the Grimm, he broke into ne our military labs. Ozpin, we lost three dozen people in five minutes. Good people."_

"I know these are hard times, general. And I am sorry for your loss. Did you know these people well?"

" _First-name basis. I have one question for you, Ozpin. What. Did. This?"_

The Headmaster sighed and sent the message with all concept theories and known files towards his old colleague. "Do not interrupt me when I explain this. His real name has yet to be discovered. Through Operative Greystone, we learned that he is simply referred to as…Blackwood. Operative Blackwood. The first of the three Operatives stationed in Vale. Our first contact with him was when he snuck into our city and murdered most of our government officials in the middle of a meeting. He carved a bloody path through Vale, attacking seemingly-random places such as night clubs and warehouses, until he disappeared again. Later though, he ambushed our students during their mission to the North."

Ozpin waited for James to process all of that. _"Oz…your file describes teams JNPR, RWBY and LACG as well as Greystone and Mantis. Pyrrha Nikos too?"_

"Yes. She did end up incapacitating him by physically removing him from the battlefield, throwing him off the ice plateau they had been fighting on. Her actions were dictated by Jaune Arc, Ruby Rose and Lisa Adamant, who all thought of and helped execute the plan."

" _Twelve students…at once?"_

"Had Operatives Greystone and Mantis not been there, there would have been heavy casualties. KIA's, I fear."

" _And this thing is responsible for the slaughter in Atlas? Ozpin, why?"_

The General was filled with rage, and Ozpin could not blame him. "Though Operative Blackwood is quite insane, that insanity was brought on by a hidden trauma in a blurred past. A past deeply connected to Summer Rose and Raven Branwen."

Ironwood's eyes widened and his arms dropped, hanging freely by his side. " _I…what?"_

"I am afraid so. James…odd things have been happening lately. I have received files from an old friend, and it seems young Greystone has developed quite the obsession with you and your military. Blackwood's human mind may be far gone, seeing as the Grimm decided to simply follow him. A…distant friend of mine said that Miss Rose once saved Blackwood's life, as much as twelve years back."

" _Again you are creating sympathy for these…these monsters. These freaks! Ozpin, they aren't children. They are weapons, damaged guns. Don't make the same mistake my unit made. This is an act of war. Coupled with the attacks on your very capital, Onyx has just declared war on the Kingdom of Atlas and the Kingdom of Vale! Now, I need to know only two things."_

"James, be reasonable."

" _The time for reason is gone! Before I go help bury all the bodies, I need to know. Where can I find Blackwood and how do I kill it?"_

Dehumanizing the target. Just like Onyx did when they taught their scared, kidnapped children how to slaughter unarmed civilians. Ozpin saw the connection and it disturbed him deeply, but this was not something he could withhold. He had only one option here. "I would suggest against taking action against Blackwood, General."

" _Ozpin, are you bargaining for its life?"_

"I am bargaining for yours. Blackwood has demonstrated the ability to kill, without limits and without exception, all that he strikes. Aura or no armour. The one thing that reportedly survived the first blow in the past was a Grimm, estimated to have lived for centuries. Subsequent attacks were sufficient."

" _Do not stall, Ozpin. If this thing is really connected to Miss Rose and Miss Branwen, our way is in danger. I won't tolerate that."_

Very well. One last option, it seemed. "Blackwood's Aura has been damaged to the degree that it invokes a primal level of fear in the minds of those sensitive to emotions. I don't expect him to be aware of it. His Semblance though…he grows immune to all types of damage dealt to him in a battle. Adaptation to attacks, if temporary. According to JNPR's report, Pyrrha Nikos managed to land a hit on him exactly three times. The first punched through his arm, the second only drew blood and the third failed to even scratch him. Does that sound familiar?"

The realization seemed to hit James hard enough that he stepped back, out of the view of the holographic communicator. His voice, though distorted, nearly served to evoke a form of melancholy in the Headmaster. " _The Juggernaut Grimm. Adaptive ability. Blackwood."_

"And the Tormentor Grimm. Regeneration. Greystone."

" _These mad…impossible! Ozpin, what has Onyx done? This is a crime beyond their former ones!"_

Ozpin wasn't so certain about that. He remembered a certain message from Qrow, concerning a certain subject Brimstone and her torments at the hands of Onyx scientist. _Raven_ , he bitterly thought. _Your connection to Blackwood?_ "Listen to me, General, because I will only say this once. Something is keeping Greystone tame. It influences him. Only he can hear it. Blackwood spiralled into insanity approximately a year back, around the time Greystone reported the death of his one comrade. According to a favorite philosopher of mine, there is no coincidence when a coincidence would entail danger."

" _What do you mean?"_

"That whatever Blackwood is looking for in Atlas, is the key to all of this. I better hope that the secrets you keep are worth it."

" _Ozpin…I will not let this go unanswered. The moment I take care of Onyx's attack on my forces, I will make my way to Vale and personally help you settle this. Mark my words."_

"Oh, I certainly will. Good luck, James."

* * *

 **Beacon courtyard, 07:44**

' _That is not true, you're exaggerating!'_

"It is true; she really can."

' _But people can't do that! At least, you can't.'_

"Thank you for that."

' _And Alice can't do it. Blackwood?'_

"Blackwood can. But I think, one on one, she might come close. Very close."

' _Wow…is she really that strong? Yang must be really popular then.'_

Will halted, wondering about that. He hadn't really seen Yang mingle with other males that much. With other students perhaps. "In the first days, I observed her watching scarcely-clothed males-"

' _Boys, Will. They're called boys. You're one too.'_

"-but that ceased further into the education. And I'm not a boy."

' _Oh? Last time I checked, you were. Or does that sound too childish?'_

Tease. "Fine. I don't think she's that popular with the mal- with boys." It did sound childish. "They seem hesitant around her. The members of team CRDL-"

' _Team who?'_

"An all-boy team of males."

' _Close enough.'_

Right. "-initially they would mess with just about everyone, including Pyrrha who has more combat experience than the four of them combined. They never did a thing against Yang."

' _I presume they left you alone as well?'_

"By that time my involvement with the SDC Hall massacre had become common knowledge. So, yes." Despite the controversy having mostly gone by, the thought of it still troubled him. It had been the cause of his first major trouble with team RWBY and though they had all grown past it, Blake had been rather distant since then. Even when he had saved Ruby's life, that had not changed a lot.

' _Okay. So she's not popular? And Pyrrha's not popular? It's not like regular high school then…good! You will be able to function better here!'_

Will made his way through the flowerbed, carefully avoiding a pair of love-sick students that was wandering through the garden. He had hoped to find some privacy for Ancilla and him, but it seemed that was hard to find. At least Alice would be waiting for him down in Vale; she had promised to meet him after he had rescued Ancilla from Onyx's machines. "Yes…function. About that. Memory loss isn't really a good thing, I heard."

' _I guess the movies lay it on thick. But I do remember some things –lots of things actually. Snippets from my past life, thingies during my time with you. Some nasty things too.'_

"That's what I mean. After you…disappeared…I suffered from memory loss as well. Almost a year before Alice snapped me out of it. Violently."

' _That couldn't have been nice.'_

"It wasn't. One bodged suicide attempt later, I was back at square one at Beacon. I found Ruby though. In the garden, where we just were." Ruby's timing had been impeccable. There was no telling what he would have done if someone hadn't reminded him of his reason to fight. The carnage he might have caused.

' _You didn't tell me you tried to commit suicide,'_ Ancilla quietly said. ' _Were things that bad?'_

Will bowed his head, ashamed. "It's difficult," he whispered. "When you disappeared…it damaged things. Important things. Eventually, I was told that the memory loss was self-inflected, created by my mind and the remnants of my Aura to…to guard myself. One final time. When that disappeared…"

' _You remembered what happened. So did you…?'_

"I tried to. Off the roof of Vale's hospital. Didn't work. Survival instinct was too strong. Then, after talking to Ruby, I hid everything behind my duty to Onyx."

' _Yes…to serve, to watch and to protect. The greater good. I'm…sorry. Remind me to thank Ruby for being there when I couldn't. Yang too.'_

"When they finally believe you are alive, I will. But that's the thing I meant. My memory loss was self-inflected. I…I think yours might be too."

' _Oh. That can't be good.'_

"No," Will quietly said, resuming his path towards the pick-up spots for the airships. "I don't think it is. I read that most self-inflected amnesias develop to hide something bad."

' _I…I have no idea what happened. You said you remembered, right?'_ her voice suddenly turned hopeful. A bit too hopeful –leaning towards begging. ' _Do you know? What happened?'_

"I'm sorry," he replied. He hadn't even picked up the pieces of his own mind yet. "I'm still patching things together."

' _I understand…we can figure it out later, I guess.'_

Will approached the dropship towards Vale, making sure that he hadn't forgotten his things. "I wish I could help. I feel bad-"

' _There's no need to feel bad. You've been through some confusing times. I'll patch us up. Stitch your mind back together. Mind the step.'_

He stepped aboard the dropship and turned towards the window, where he could see the sun slowly start to rise. Without her, he had always hated watching the sun rise. Not sure why. An end to the darkness that covered his approach? Light that hurt his eyes? She loved seeing the sun rise though. "I'll find your body. Soon. I won't waste another day."

Ancilla dreamily sighed, turning her mind towards other things. It felt odd, after all these months without her, to suddenly share his body with another inhabitant again. Though she refrained from touching on his control, he could still feel her presence lingering on his limbs. If she wanted to, she could take full control of him. It was a comforting thought. ' _You know, I've been like this for four years now. I've spent my puberty in your body. I can wait a few weeks. It's not like I'm going anywhere.'_

"I will make them pay," Will quietly said. "I couldn't find you before…I couldn't keep my promise. But I'm stronger now. I'll fix this –I promise."

' _I know you will,'_ Ancilla chirped. ' _And you've got friends now. Don't forget that. Anyway, you're making the pilot scared, talking to yourself.'_

"I'm not talking to myself-"

' _I know. I was kidding. I don't even think she can hear you. So how has Alice been?'_

Will chuckled. "That's complicated."

' _Everything is complicated. That's why you still can't write.'_

"Yup. Fine. Alice was the first to defect from Onyx. A week or two before…before you left. She came to Vale and stayed there, avoiding Onyx, the Vale Police Department as well as the various Hunters who were tracking her."

' _But that was a year ago.'_

"I know. Several months back, during the first two weeks at Beacon, she and I encountered each other again. She was hunting the Themeluesi."

' _Who?'_

"That's what they call Onyx's founder. Or at least, the current one. It was because of that fight that I remembered what happened –who had been lost."

' _You said you woke up in a hospital.'_

"I didn't say I won the fight. She never knew of your existence though. When she did learn…our various conflicts were over."

' _So she's been on her own, on the run, for over a year? She must be lonely.'_

"Yes. She did sneak onto Beacon grounds a few times. She met Blake there. The two took a liking towards each other."

' _Blake was the Faunus girl, right? With that beautiful bow?'_

"Yes." Blake Belladonna and Operative "Alice" Mantis. Both of them outcasts, both of them having spent a life as pariahs. Both of them inventive with the blade as well. Now that he thought about it, it only made sense for the two of them to befriend each other.

' _Do you think the Headmaster will let her on his Academy as well? He looked like a good man.'_

"I don't know if Alice would want that. She doesn't work well with authority."

It didn't take long for the airship to touch down near the city of Vale. It was still early in the morning and the sun, yet to fully rise, bathed the various buildings in a dark shade of red. The few people who were already out and working didn't pay any attention to the dropship as it touched down; they had grown used to crafts like these landing at the strangest places at the strangest times.

' _Oh, Vale is beautiful!'_ Ancilla exclaimed once the two of the made towards the commercial district. ' _It reminds me of Mistral!'_

That didn't promise a lot of for Mistral; due to the breach event, the commercial district was still messed up. Things were looking for the better, but it wasn't worthy of catching her heart like that. There were better places for her. "It was recently attacked by Grimm."

' _But it looks so lovely! Did you help repel the Grimm?'_

"Everyone did. "

' _Good. I bet this place would look lovely in the moonlight. Did you-?'_

"No"

' _D'aww…but we should.'_

"I don't think that's a good idea-"

' _We can take Yang with us.'_

On the other hand, he might reconsider. "We'll see."

A sniper in every building. Hidden weapon on every civilian. Enemy combatants everywhere. The average city was a death trap where the lines between reality and genuine danger were blurry at best. No happiness, no food, no safety. Just endless possibilities for more conflict and death. Though with Ancilla there, those things mattered a lot less. There was more safety, less worrying. He could trust the situation to work out and that was important. It opened his eyes to the various sights in the city that he had not yet noticed before, preoccupied as he had been with surviving the hidden danger.

He had no idea what was new or what had always been there, though.

' _You do see a lot of robots here, don't you?'_ Ancilla remarked as the two of them walked down one of the busier streets, passing by several of the Atlesian Knights as they did. ' _Are they art?'_

"Courtesy of General Ironwood of Atlas," Will replied, with no small amount of scorn. "He thinks that Vale needs his protection and meddling."

' _I think you have some repressed problems with that man. You don't like the general?'_

"He's been standing in my way for a while now. Since the expedition to the North. He's a threat-"

' _Will,'_ Ancilla sternly said, ' _what did we talk about? Not everyone is a threat, remember? Can he beat you in fighting?'_

"No."

' _Can he sneak up on you?'_

"No."

' _Then why deem him dangerous?'_

"Because of the control he has. The danger he poses by proximity. He hates Onyx-"

' _Well, so do I. Onyx is evil.'_

"But not everyone involved with them is. He would take us all away from Beacon."

' _If and only if he tries, we can stop him. Listen to your heart, not your demons.'_

"Now you sound like Ruby."

' _That's good, I hope?'_

Will weakly smiled. "That's good."

As they pushed deeper into the city, he started seeing some strange things. Not the usual hallucinations, but genuine weirdness. The VPD seemed to have hired new muscle; their police units were all replaced by what looked like Vacuo military police. Corrupt, violent and always satisfying to delude, pick off and otherwise ruin.

A savage delight sprung up in chest, even before he could check himself. A heartbeat later he had suppressed it, but it had definitely been there. And Ancilla hadn't missed it.

' _Don't you dare,'_ she told him. ' _Not unless they attack first.'_

"They always draw first blood."

The various members of the new unit gave him odd stares as he walked past them. They had their eyes on him, their hands on their weapons. The second they figured out who he was, this would turn into a bloodbath. He didn't want that, but at some level, he hoped that they would. It was the people like them that would threaten him. People like them who _had_ threatened him.

No, he knew why he hoped that they would give him a reason to slaughter them. They represented everything he hated. Well, not everything. A lot. They were the arrogant, safe, self-absorbed bastards who had made Onyx turn towards using child soldiers. The ones who had made the Themeluesi deem it necessary to steal Ancilla from her parents and force her pure, innocent soul to merge with his stained and warped soul.

At least, as close as they could get without turning into normal civilians. Will didn't know who he despised more; the corrupt and the arrogant, or the selfish and the sheltered. The people who hadn't done their job, or the people who didn't even think of doing a job.

That usually meant Hunters and police units or civilians. Seeing as his life was just a means to keep both options safe at night, he might throw them all on a big pile. Made things easier. Someone who basically amounted to a dark spot of gray was allowed to think in terms of black and white on occasion.

Or was he? He didn't even know what he was allowed to. Without Onyx to constantly steer, punish and guide him, the only thing keeping him from using his own mind to judge was the knowledge that his mind _couldn't_ judge.

' _Now you're making it too complicated for yourself.'_

Ah…he had let his thoughts cloud his emotions. That didn't happen often.

Will discarded that line of thought. Stuffed it in a little box, where he could take a look at it later. He had reached the place where Alice wanted to meet with him as well, so there was that.

While he would have thought of some rooftop or obscure back alley to have their conversation, Alice seemed to have chosen something else.

' _Oh, look at that cute little terrace!'_

"Really?" Will muttered as he saw the place. Pillows, couches, white balcony…this was a civilian hotspot! People could buy breakfast here for goodness' sake! What use was that? "There's not enough Field Agents in Remnant to keep this place classified."

' _Look at it this way; nobody will notice the boy and girl having breakfast together.'_

"Do you want breakfast?"

' _I wasn't talking about myself. Although…hmm…how long has it been since we've had bread and eggs?'_

"Including the year you were gone?"

' _Yes, I think?'_

"Three years."

' _The time you stole that chicken doesn't count.'_

"Right. Four years. I'll ask Alice."

' _Where is she, anyway?'_

That was a good question. Where was Operative Mantis? It wasn't like her to be late on her own appointment. It _was_ like her to be there two hours early and rig three ambushes on forehand. No ambushes here.

Which begged the question: where was she?

Someone screamed somewhere nearby, answering his question with perfect timing. He smiled as he retrieved his combat knife from his thigh; finally, something familiar.

Ancilla remained silent as Will rushed down the nearby alley and headed towards the new target location. Years of counter-sniping and counter-terrorism had left him quite capable of pinpointing the exact location of noise. It didn't take him more than half a minute to locate the source of the scream and when he did, he wasn't really surprised with what he found.

A group of the military police units trying to arrest Alice with force.

"Hands on your back, bitch!" One of them shouted at her, not even bothering to aim his gun at her. "Keep that whore still, I'll contact command-"

"Let go of me you fuck!" Operative Mantis yelled at the policeman who was trying to detain her from behind. She whipped out with her elbow, pinned both of the man's wrists to her side and then sank through her knees, throwing him over her hip and breaking his wrists in the meantime. The officer in front of her uttered a violent oath and attempted to strike her with his baton, but he didn't even get to raise his weapon before Alice dove underneath his arm, kicked him in the crotch and snapped his neck from behind in one smooth movement. By the time the first officer fell to the ground, the second one was already dead.

Will had missed watching her speed. She was by far the fastest combatant he knew and that was even without her Semblance. These men –if they even were men, as all of them had hidden their faces behind helmets- didn't stand a chance.

There were more officers though. At least five of them had been watching their two buddies harass Alice, but they obviously hadn't expected her to actually resist them.

Ad they hadn't expected any interruptions either, from the looks of it. As Alice disabled the two closest targets within moments of each other, Will circled around the rear and caught a trio of armed officers in the flank. He kicked one of them right in the base of his spine, dropping him to his knees as the blow temporarily paralyzed him. He then grabbed the man's head and jerked, upwards and to the right. He was rewarded with a satisfying 'pop' as the vertebrae were wrenched apart.

' _They don't have faces,'_ a surprised Ancilla said as the limp corpse fell to the ground. ' _Are they supposed to be without faces?'_

"They don't have faces," Will replied as he made his presence known to the two other men on his side, both of whom immediately turned around and aimed their pistols at him.

"Shit, where did he come from?" One of them shouted, clicking the safety of his pistol away.

"Doesn't matter. Kill that freak!"

Ancilla made an indignant sound. ' _That's not nice! Does this mean we can kill them?'_

"No faces, not nice and very armed," Will said with a smile. He didn't care that the two hostiles could hear him –they would be dead soon.

' _But don't make a mess this time!'_

No promises. The guns discharged, but the bullets never found their mark. He rolled to the side and quickly closed in on the targets. They might have training in Aura, but Aura couldn't defend against movements of the body. A fact that the two officers had to learn the hard way, it seemed. Will lashed out with his leg and disarmed the right target, knocking him back as well. Then he drove his elbow into the left one's chest, before spinning around him and grabbing the man's gun-arm, pulling it down and bringing his leg up,

Elbow joint locked. Some people never learned.

Will brought his boot down hard and shattered it, before silencing the man with a single punch to his throat.

Ancilla audibly winced.

Will pulled his arm back and saw the other officer scramble for a weapon. His instincts took over and he intercepted him, swiping the man's legs away from underneath his body with a well-placed kick. The Vacuo officer crashed to the ground and, before he could get up, Will crouched down on his body and delivered an open-palm strike to his chest.

' _Wow, forgot about that one,'_ Ancilla remarked with wonder.

The man convulsed once and then went limp.

"Show-off," Alice sneered. "You could have just kicked his skull in."

"Still getting back in my element," Will replied, halfway through checking his three targets for intel and supplies before realising that he wasn't anywhere near a battlefield and that there was no need for information.

Operative Mantis crossed her arms and gave him a sceptical look. She looked healthier; her hair looked like she had actually washed it for once and she wasn't malnourished. Her civilian clothes –while a bit too much subculture for his tastes- showed that her body was in optimal form. "What's that asupposed to mean?"

Will stepped over one of the corpses and walked up to his ally, noticing that she had already finished off her own batch of Vacuo troops. "I found her, Alice."

The green-haired girl opened her mouth to reply, but she didn't actually say anything. Her eyes widened in shock though and her body language lost that arrogant scepticism. "You did? You actually found her?"

"Yes."

"Alive?"

' _Why does everyone think I was dead?'_ Ancilla murmured, sounding a bit depressed. It could also be a side-effect it the isolation or containment –he still didn't know.

"With me, right now," Will said. "It was the outpost. Had some sort of machine, or equipment. Built to contain someone's soul. Crude, massive. Destroyed."

"That's the first good news I've heard in a long time. Is she...you know…active?"

' _I'm not really in a situation to actually do anything, so does that count as active? Also, machine? Please tell me that one later.'_

"Active," Will verified with a nod. He was about to formally introduce the two when he caught movement on the far edge of the street, where another group of Vacuo police units came rushing around the corner.

' _Look! More faceless people! Do we tell them what happened to their friends?'_

"I've got a better idea," he replied with a sigh, reaching for his knife. "You might want to think about nice things for this one."

* * *

 **Outskirts of Vale -09:13**

Ruby unhappily watched as her sister picked up the limp and broken body of the soldier who just couldn't give up when he had the chance. Who just had to keep fighting, in spite of threats, injuries and a near-begging warning when he had scored a hit on Ruby, grazing her already-wounded shoulder. It had been the last shot in his magazine, because he had stopped firing altogether.

And then Yang had spotted her, shot and bleeding, at the hands of this black-clad soldier, undoubtedly Onyx. Undoubtedly guilty.

And now, undoubtedly dead.

"Yang," Ruby softly said. Her Aura was already healing the wound, but it still hurt. "Stop it. He's dead."

The young boy hung limp in Yang's hands, scorch marks covering his tactical suit and one of his arms bent at an unnatural position. Droplets of blood fell to the ground.

Yang had broken his neck in her blind anger, killing him. He looked so young…probably explained why he hadn't gone for the lethal shot either. But Yang hadn't seen that; for all she knew, his shot might have killed her.

That, or he might have just lacked the training necessary to bring two students down at once.

The soldier slipped from Yang's grasp and his corpse fell to the ground without sound, his suit absorbing the impact. During the ambush his helmet had come off…revealing what Ruby had feared, but what she hoped would never come to pass. But by then, it had been far too late.

"I…" Yang muttered, looking at her fists. Gauntlets, with patches of blood on them. "I didn't…I didn't mean to, I -Ruby, come on, we need to get out of here."

But Ruby didn't move. She stared at the corpse of what to be a young boy, not even a teen. His hair was blonde. His eyes, green. He looked like Jaune. Or what Jaune would look like of he had been kidnapped as a child and forced to kill people before he could even go to school.

Yang had saved her life. Had she not swept in at that last moment…things might have gone wrong. Both Ruby as the Onyx soldier had ran out of ammo. But fighting in this urban area, with all the houses and rocks…Crescent Rose would have worked against her. It would have worked against her.

"Ruby?"

"You did what you had to do," Ruby whispered. "And it's not your first time. But…" What was there to say? Gratitude? Fear? The thought that Yang might take more after her mother than Summer? "But…"

Yang reached out and gently took her shoulder, checking her wound. "Ruby…could you look at me?"

Ruby looked up, gazing into the lilac eyes of her older sister. The girl she had looked up to for so many years –the girl she _still_ looked up to.

And Yang tried to smile. It looked forced…there was too much anger and sorrow in her eyes for such a smile to be genuine. But she tried. "Ruby…I'm sorry, but they're not like Will or Cal. If they could, they would burn us all. If something were to happen to you…if someone…I don't want anything to happen to you."

Nothing had happened to her. Something had happened to her sister. "Yang," Ruby said, reaching for her sister's face. Reaching for the tears below her eyes. "This isn't about me. When you accidentally killed that criminal…you had nightmares for weeks. And this…that could have been Will."

Yang grimaced. "I'll manage. That boy…whoever he once was…he can rest calm now."

Ruby swallowed her tears. It was hard. "Do you think so?"

"I do." Yang pulled her in her arms and hugged her, burying Ruby's face in her chest. "Come on…we've got friends waiting for us."

She nodded. "Alright."

Onyx had never been easy to predict. Had never settled for a pattern, always changing what they did. Always changing the plan. How else could they have remained a secret since the dawn of man? Well, one thing was for certain.

They were _not_ staging an attack on these outskirts. Ruby knew that there was no way that this was anything more than just a recon mission. Or a distraction. Both, achieving two goals at the same time. But they had wasted human lives to do so. Young lives –at least one that didn't have to go like that. Was it Yang's fault for defending herself with such force? Was it the soldier's fault for not surrendering or fleeing when given the chance? In the end it would always be Onyx's fault, but…if this was supposed to be heroic –if _this_ was what being a Huntress was about…did she still want that?

Would any of them still want that?

The temporary headquarters was still intact when Ruby and Yang finally returned there. Not only that, it looked like everybody was already there. Well, everybody except for team LACG. At this point though, that didn't even surprise Ruby anymore. It was sad though; she could use a good laugh and their antics always seemed to bring a smile to her face.

JNPR was already getting aboard the airship, getting ready to leave. What was going one?

"Ruby! Yang!"

"What?" Ruby turned around just in time for something white and petite to crash into her, ceasing her by her neck and spinning her around. "Weiss!"

"Where _were_ you two!" the Heiress demanded as she touched Ruby's shoulders. Her way of showing affection was different from Yang's, luckily. Less aching when breathing. "I was worried!"

Ruby glanced over her partner's shoulder and spotted Blake, sitting in a corner like usual. Glancing at the side, with her legs pulled up to her chest. Not like usual.

One look at Blake's behaviour was enough for Ruby to suspect the worst. She carefully slipped out of Weiss' grip and asked, "What happened?"

There was a visible hesitation on Weiss' part and she looked away as well. "Are you two alright? Why is your cloak torn?"

"A bullet grazed my shoulder," Ruby replied, waving away Weiss's concern and nearly jumping when the Heiress cried out in concern and surprise. "It's fine! My Aura helped. I'll fix the wound when I get back to Beacon. Seriously Weiss, what happened? Where is everyone?"

"Oobleck is after LACG," Weiss unhappily replied, rubbing her own shoulder. "Johnson's around the corner, talking to the pilot. We're…we're leaving."

"Leaving?" Yang said, walking up to Blake and rubbing her head. "So soon?"

"Coming here was a mistake," Weiss said. "A distraction."

"What for?" Ruby asked, her stomach painfully clenching when she thought about the meaning of Onyx distracting Vale with multiple coordinated attacks. "How did we find out? Blake, are you alright?"

Before anyone could reply, the metal door was flung open and three weapons were simultaneously aimed at the person walking inside, tensions immediately rising to a fever pitch.

"If I knew that there would be target practice, I would have painted a bullseye on my chest," Sergeant-Professor Johnson quietly said. Quietly. Said. Something horrible must have happened. "Stand down, Ruby."

Ruby snuck a peek at her sister. "Does he mean me?"

"All of you!"

"Oh, right."

"The dropship is waiting for you," the Professor added, his eyes darting towards Yang's bloody gauntlets. "We get to sit the next one out."

But Ruby shook her head. "Sir, we can't leave without LACG. There are soldiers here- they might need help."

"Doctor Oobleck is perfectly capable of supporting team LACG, Rose. In your teams current condition, you wouldn't be much help for them anyway."

"We can still fight!" Yang protested. "We can help-"

The Professor shot a stern look her way, silencing her. "Psychological condition, Xiao Long. In that department, team LACG got you outgunned. Now come on –we can discuss this on our way to Beacon."

There was no room for further argument. Without further protests, Ruby took her team towards the exit, where the airship was waiting for them indeed. She couldn't help but see that Blake was behaving very much unlike her. Un-Blakey, as Sun would have put it. There was blood, coating her chest. She didn't look like she had been wounded…at least, she didn't _move_ like someone with a wound that could spill so much blood. Neither did Weiss. Odd.

Unless it meant that Weiss and her had encountered Onyx soldiers as well. That couldn't be a good thing.

Ruby reached for Blake's shoulder before she could step into the airship. "Hey…what's wrong?"

Blake turned around, but her eyes never met Ruby's. "I…it was an accident. I didn't mean to."

Oh…that sounded hauntingly familiar. "Blake, did you-?"

"Move it along RWBY!" Johnson barked, slamming his fist against the metal door of the airship. "Debriefing ain't waiting for me and Goodwitch will have my ass in a sling if I get late!"

Ruby groaned and stepped aboard the ship, not letting Blake out of her sight. If she was right, she would need all the help that her friends could offer. Maybe more. She hadn't showed up for her appointment with the psycho…psycha…the mind-doctor. Well, she might want to consider going after all now. She wouldn't take this well;

With everybody on-board, the gunship took off again. A brief mission, not even successful. It had only succeeded in further driving the motivation and drive of her team down. The dance party seemed so far away...

The journey continued in silence. Nobody said a word. Both Yang as Blake were zoning off into space, while Weiss was alternating between keeping an eye on the two and silently exchanging glances with Ruby. It made for an awkward journey back home.

Ruby sighed, wishing that things could just stay the same.

* * *

 **Vale commercial district**

Seven of them. All armed with rifles, helmets concealing their faces. They ran out into the street, spotted the fallen bodies and acted accordingly. Some took cover, others lined up their weapons. Six meters' distance, no cover in-between.

Ancilla uttered a cry of surprise. ' _I can't get your Aura working! It's all wrong…this shouldn't be happening!'_

No matter. He had been fighting the past year without it –and those situations were worse. Far worse.

"Hold it freaks!" one of the officers barked at them. "Hands in the air! Do it!"

Freaks…again. He hated that word. He had once attacked a Lieutenant Colonel because of it. It infuriated him.

' _Can you…Will? Could you please, just this once, surrender? For me?'_

As much as his body screamed at him to take the fight to these obvious hostiles, he didn't want to subject Ancilla to more violence. There had been enough blood –enough death. But no, in Remnant, there was always more death. Always more violence. Again, someone else dictated when he would fight.

He raised his hands, dropping the knife as he did. There was no way this would work. Alice didn't seem like she cared that much. She lowered her arms and very visibly dropped her knife. But she also very visibly smirked. The thought of two Operatives surrendering to Police units of all possible enemies was probably amusing to her. Well, they _were_ illegal here in Vale, technically speaking.

Three of the Vacuo assets turned to look at each other. One of them nodded.

They wouldn't-

"OPEN FIRE, OPEN FIRE!"

Will cursed as seven rifles were swept down the street, filling the air with bullets and Dust-empowered projectiles. Alice allowed her Semblance to kick in and she disappeared, escaping the deadly hail of within a heartbeat. He was less lucky; at least one of the Dust shells detonated close to him when he was in the middle of a jump, nicking his side and burning through his clothes. Pain shot through his chest, but he pushed the pain out of his mind and focused on eliminating the hostiles. Ancilla screamed, the burning spread across his skin and the rhythmic clatter of automatic weapon firing pushed him further and further into the uncertain zone of Onyx' training.

But he was still faster. He kicked himself off and away from the road, above the gunfire and explosions. The officers moved to intercept him and raised their rifles, but they couldn't get a bead on him. From the side of the building, rolling over the ground and side-stepping another burst, the Operative closed in on the police officers and clashed with the first one.

Ancilla said something, but he didn't hear what. His senses, directions and even his thoughts were consumed by the conditioning and responses built into his muscles. Into his mind. His momentum carried him past the officer and his hand snatched out, grabbing the man by his chin and jerking it with him.

Snap.

He landed, spun around and grabbed the discarded rifle. Picked it up, sighted in, pulled the trigger. Threw the rifle away, unleashed a series of rapid punches against the sternum of the first hostile that approached him. Burst his Aura, followed up with a strike to the throat. Crushed the larynx.

Operative Mantis appeared on the other side of the squad, snaking her arm around the throat of one of the officers. Kicked him against his the spine, pulling him into a deadly embrace.

Greystone ignored her and ducked low, dodging a baton-strike aimed at his neck. He lashed out with his leg, kicked the officer to the ground. Dodged another salvo of fire, shattered the spine of the downed hostile. Ducked underneath another blow, spun around and grabbed the next hostile. Pulled him the in the path of another burst of fire, then pushed his head towards his chest, bundling the arteries together. Severed them with his knife. Advanced on next target.

Mantis eliminated her second target, unseen. Sliced him up with her own knives. Threw her second knife at the chest of the remaining officer, who blocked it with his rifle-

Greystone kicked at him and drove him back. Followed up with two rapid punches to his face. Broke through his Aura, opened him up for a grapple. Shattered his elbow-joint.

' _Will!'_ Ancilla shouted as he grabbed the man's other arm and slammed him against the ground, face-first. ' _Stop it!'_

Not yet. Greystone pocketed his knife, drove it deep into the base of the downed hostile's skull. "Hostile neutralized," he called. He reached for the patch of burned skin at his side, but it had already healed. At least that was still working.

"Who gave you the smart idea of surrendering?" Alice asked as she wiped her knife off against the corpse of her first target. "Ancilla?"

' _They were the police,'_ Ancilla said with a trembling voice. ' _If we surrendered…gave up without bloodshed_ … _there was no need for them to die! They didn't need to die like that!'_

Her harsh tone wasn't what made Will look down at the corpses of the helmeted officers, gazing at his own handy-work. It was the clear distress and near-panic in her voice that made him realize what it must have been like for her. He was stuck between obeying two masters of his actions. His training, Onyx. And his conscience, Ancilla. Neither of them could work if the other was still there. Moments like these…where his only ingrained response was violence above all else…was this why people thought he was evil? Why people thought he was a murderer?

He relayed her words to Alice, who shrugged. "They attacked first. We surrendered. That's why you _don't_ surrender."

' _I want to go home…'_ Ancilla whispered. His body was her body, his loss of control was her loss of control. The conditioning was a parasite, eating away at her sanity and peace. And that was his fault. ' _Please take me away from here?'_

"We should get out of here," Will said. "There will be more. Ozpin is not going to like this."

"Yeah…a shame. That terrace looked really good. It'll have to wait until later. You dropped a lot of openings there, by the way."

"Excuse me?"

"Compared to how you usually do your things? It was sloppy. You stumbled, constantly dropped your weapons…disordered."

Damnit, again? He'd address that later. Get himself checked out by the medics at Beacon. "Combat report, later. Debriefing, now."

Alice sighed and wiped a trickle of blood from her cheek. "Obviously, you've not been paying attention lately. Placing yourself in high profiles as well…the Catalyst program is messing with your head."

' _I can't get our Aura to work…'_ Ancilla whispered again. She didn't sound like she was really paying any attention to what was being said, but Will couldn't blame her. ' _I can't remember why it doesn't…why can't I work?'_

"We'll find you help when we get back to Beacon," he told her. He couldn't keep the panic out of his voice, but he had to stay calm. Keep her safe. "Alice…what do you mean?"

The two of them were quickly making their way back towards the pick-up point where the airship would be touching down again. Sometimes, people would glance at them, but Will didn't care. People were always running through Vale –they had to be used to that by now.

"When you were off maiming your allies, I discovered a little something about our mutual general. Do you know someone called 'Qrow'?"

 _Ruby's uncle._ "Yeah."

"Well, he's been messing with Onyx for some time now. He's coming to Vale, sooner or later. He's the only one who managed to get his hands on their files without being silenced afterwards. Apart from Matthew Adamant, of course."

"So?"

"So," Alice impatiently said, "he obviously knows enough about this whole mess to do some real damage. He's an old acquaintance of your Headmaster, too."

"He's not my headmaster," Will replied with irritation, scanning the area where the dropship would be picking them up for hostiles. "Why is Ironwood involved?"

"Because the four of them are working together, moron."

"Four-?"

"Yeah, Ozpin, Qrow, the General and Goodwitch. I just said that."

"I…you did?"

Alice frowned and sat back against one of the houses, glaring daggers at him. "You really don't look well. I'll be clear on this; Ironwood has some things he doesn't want Onyx to know. As of this morning, they know."

Will watched one of the distant airships break off and advance towards their position. He couldn't care less about Ironwood's secrets; he wanted Ancilla as far away from that man as possible. "Good. They can take him down for all I care."

"Yeah, sure…except that Beacon caught wind of their attack and sent their students to intercept a scouting operation."

A scouting operation…a distraction to hide their assault on Ironwood's secret. A few soldiers, no more. Still enough to kill a team of unaware students.

 _RWBY,_ he thought with newfound panic. Alarm rippled across his mind and he jumped upright. "When? We need to get there, now."

"Sit down." Alice grabbed his wrist and pulled him back down again. "It was this morning. You can find them when we're done. There's another thing I need to tell you."

Will gritted his teeth, but Ancilla didn't chime in with her advice, so he kept quiet. "What?"

"Beacon. Are you sure they're the good guys?"

Will sighed. "Of course. Ozpin-"

"Are you really, really sure?"

"I…" he stopped talking and looked at Alice. His ally. His friend. The one he couldn't trust. "Why?"

* * *

 **Beacon Academy -landing zone**

Yang stepped out of the airship, feeling the fresh wind blow through her hair. She felt like taking a shower…wash this filth off of her. But it wasn't that simple; no amount of water would clear her of this. Funny how things went…normally, a shower was enough to wash the blood away.

She spotted Ruby glaring at her and averted her eyes. Becoming a Huntress was so important to Ruby…but after everything that she had seen and heard –everything with Onyx, the White Fang and Roman Torchwick- she had made a promise. A promise to her mother. Ruby would never take a life.

What would she think of her sister now? Yang had always wanted to be a good example…a role model for her Ruby. Get her open, get her to socialize and get her to make friends. And Ruby had made friends, odd ones. Weird ones. Impossible ones.

Now, Yang felt like she had been left behind in the process. Both times were self-defense, but this…would Ruby think her the same? Would she even look at her now?

Weiss walked up to her, stopping when she stood right by her side. "Blake experienced something," she said, looking right ahead at Beacon. "And I think you did too."

Yang grunted. She didn't want to talk about it with Weiss. "Nothing personal, but I don't walk to talk about it with you."

It came out worse than she had intended, but Weiss simply shrugged. "I figured that. I think there is someone you _should_ talk to, though."

"I'm not going to the shrink again!"

"Not her, Yang! Gee, think. Who would be the best person to talk to about…this type of situation?"

Yang turned to face the Heiress, incredulous. "Are you serious?"

Weiss nodded vehemently. "Do I look like I'm not serious? It's one of his problems, too. Except he might have found a way to deal with it. Talking couldn't hurt, if only to get it off your chest."

Sighing, Yang looked behind her. Ruby was trying to get Blake to walk with her, but she didn't look like she had a lot of success. Blake had said, her life was tailored to running away. Her past, her Semblance…yet when she had ran away the last time, she had met someone who shared that aspect of her life. Someone who knew what it was like to be a pariah. Someone who had killed many times before, hunted by everyone around her. If she wanted to, Blake could depend on her again.

Yes…perhaps a little talk would be a good thing.

"I'll manage," Yang said, before walking away herself. This was a…a complicated problem. And as guilty as she felt, a part of her didn't. A part of her that told her that it had been self-defense, that it had been to save someone she loved. A part that didn't feel guilty.

 _No!_ Yang firmly told herself. She was _not_ her mother.

And yet she had broken a child's neck. She had taken yet another life and this time, a life that could have been saved. She had taken out so many opponents without killing them…why not the one who might matter more than all the others? She had saved Will from that fate. Would she do the same to Ash if he threatened Ruby? Knowing that they didn't know any better?

Damnit, this sucked! It was so…so double! Yes, being a Huntress meant taking lives. Yes, she had killed before. But the one time she encountered an enemy who was too dangerous to hold back against, she felt like _she_ was the bad guy.

Well, who else would kill a child in such close quarters? In such an intimate way? Only a bad guy.

She _wasn't_ her mother! She was not!

Yang walked straight past the door she needed to be at, only realizing her mistake when she was already at the other end of the hallway.

"Damnit," she muttered. Recent events had left the hangar bay impossible to use for her friend; people know didn't only know who he was or what he was, but also _where_ he was. Ozpin had granted him a room all for himself, but it was a reclusive one. A hallway that nobody ever seemed to use.

She knocked on the door, hoping that someone would be home. Knowing him, he would be off prancing about somewhere. He had explicitly been forbidden to wander into the city on his own, but he had the tendency to get himself in so much trouble that he had to fight his way out nine out of ten times. With all these Atlas killer-robots around though…and that Vacuo police unit…hell, even students were a threat to him. He could be in seven different kinds of trouble right this very moment-

The door opened, revealing a pale boy with the standard Beacon uniform. And a tie around his neck that looked like it had been stapled on.

Actually, the entire uniform looked more like someone with an abysmal idea of what a uniform was supposed to be had yanked some clothes out of a closet somewhere. The various pieces of gear that had been attached to it were a dead giveaway as well.

"Hey," Will said, quickly hiding his gun as he fully opened the door. "You're back. Good."

"I killed someone," Yang blurted out. Saying it like that…it was worse. So much worse. An irreversible fact that she was a murderer now.

Will blinked, before looking aside as if distracted by something. "I see." He then stepped aside. "Come in."

After a brief moment of hesitation, Yang clenched her fists and walked inside of his room. His dorm. A room of three by four meters, with a bed and a closet. No lights, one window. A military-grade crate stuffed away in a corner, containing spare items like clothes and ammo. No pillows, no sheets.

No mirror.

"Was anyone hurt?" The boy asked, closing the door behind them. "Are you hurt?"

"Ruby took a shot," Yang said as she glanced at the humble interior of the room. "A shot grazed her. I didn't see that until later. I thought…"

When she didn't continue talking, Will gestured at his bed. "Do you want to sit down?"

With anyone else, that offer would have been weirdly out of place. But here, with pretty much nowhere else to sit and a boy whose thoughts were probably even more innocent than Ruby's, Yang didn't mind. "I…listen, it was an accident. I thought he had just shot my sister and…and I lost it."

Actually, Weiss was right. This did feel better than keeping it bottled up. It helped that she had had this sort of conversation with him before. There was _trust_. Mutual. And that was important.

"Who did you kill?" Will gently asked her, choosing to stay standing instead of sitting down next to her. Was he afraid? Uncomfortable? Because of her?

"An Onyx soldier. A child, Onyx soldier. The young kind. I didn't find out until his helmet was gone…I couldn't stop myself."

"Easy," he said, "slow down. What happened?"

Yang sighed and leant back against the wall. "We uh…we ran into an ambush, Ruby and I. Onyx supposedly attacked our borders and we were sent into investigate. There was only one, but he was sharp. Managed to keep Ruby and me separated for a while, using explosives to detonate the houses."

"He got Ruby alone. And shot her. You thought she was dead?"

Yang lowered her head, thinking back on the hectic fight. It had been such a mess…in her head, as well. She couldn't remember it clearly. "It's hazy…I was so _mad_. Like, enraged. You know what that feels like? To be so angry, you get a haze in your eyes?"

He nodded curtly. "Yes."

Why was he still standing? At attention, like this was a debriefing. It felt so wrong. "Would you sit down?"

"Ah…sure."

When he cautiously sat down on the bed, keeping a good foot distance between them, Yang continued. "Well…that escalated. He wouldn't give _up_ , you know? I beat him and he got back up. So I beat him more…there was so little Aura in my way. I beat him bloody and he still got _back up_! I fucking broke his arm and he didn't give a damn!"

Her emotions flared up again and she could feel her hair tingle. She took a deep breath, realizing that she was still so _pissed_.

"To protect Ruby and yourself, you took him out?"

"When the little…when he reached for another pistol at his hip…I couldn't risk it. He had such good aim…and Ruby didn't have her Aura. I couldn't risk it! So I…I broke his neck. Grabbed his head with both hands…recoil-boosted." Only when the shells of the twin shots had clattered to the ground had Yang realized what she had done.

She fell quiet.

"You did the right thing," Will said after a few moments of silence, tactfully giving her the time to calm down somewhat. At least, Yang guessed so. It was always a guess with him. "He wouldn't have stopped. Eventually, someone would have died."

"Is that how you did it the first time?" Yang asked, glancing at him. "Calling it the right thing to do?"

Will lowered his head somewhat. His short, grey-blond hair had grown longer since his time here. Not long enough to obscure his eyes though. Yang could see that he wasn't just thinking this through; his eyes went blurry for a moment. Hazy. Reliving. "That was different," he eventually muttered. "My first time wasn't anyone younger than me. I didn't think it was important. They told me it was good, so it was good. And I didn't think about it anymore.'

"And the first time your victim _was_ younger than you?" Yang carefully asked. She wasn't sure if she would like what she was about to hear.

Will looked up, looking Yang in her eyes. "Yang...do you promise you won't hate me when I tell you?"

Yang blinked. "Why would I hate you?" She asked, surprised.

"Do you promise?" Will urged her.

Despite herself, Yang smiled. "Alright. I promise."

That seemed to come as a relief to him; he visibly relaxed and looked away again. "Five years ago- "

 _What?_

"-there was an incident in a village in Vacuo. Again, Onyx told me that it was alright. That I did good. They would ehm…reward certain behavior with food. Good beds, sleep. It never really stuck with me…when Ancilla found out what had happened…she got so mad…she threatened to drown both of us if that happened again."

Yang was about to open her mouth and ask what the hell he meant with that, but then she remembered that Will was still in denial about his late partner. Why she would drown the both of them though…didn't make any sense. She wasn't sure what he meant with that.

"And now you're here. And the same happened to you."

 _Not sure it's the same,_ Yang thought. Still she nodded. "I know I had no choice. That it was a fight to the death. But…I just…"

"You feel bad?" Will suggested. "The first time you directly took a life. It's…a black page in your life. What does Ruby think?"

"That's the worst," Yang replied with a soft voice. "I don't know. I don't know if she hates me or…or got scared. I don't want her to be afraid of me. I don't have a lot…but she's so important to me. I don't know if you understand, but…"

"I think I do." He clenched his fists, hesitated, then awkwardly placed a hand on her shoulder. He moved so slow and deliberate that it looked like he was trying to defuse a bomb. It would have looked silly, had the gesture behind it not been so meaningful.

That didn't happen a lot to Yang.

"Look, Blake was in a terrorist cult…Weiss's family is doing slavery and I'm me. You're her sister…the way I understand it, you saved her life. You took someone's life doing so, but…she'll understand. You should have seen her when she thought you were dead. She was sad."

Yang weakly chuckled and lowered her head against Will's shoulder. It felt hard and bony, but that didn't matter. It felt _right._ "Thanks…"

She felt her Operative shift and look at her. "For what?"

 _Silly boy…_ "For this. Being here."

"Always."

* * *

" _Testing. Operation Wallstorm is a success as well. The Implants have taken to the Subjects' bodies; as of now, Grimm-Semblance can be successfully implanted into human Aura. Unfortunately, this overrides whatever Semblance the soul may have had in store for the soldier, but that doesn't truly matter. It has been ten weeks since the Catalysts have been implanted and the results are still conflicting. On one side, they seem to be capable of assuming total control over their host-bodies, but their relatively pure mindset forbids them from doing this. If we are lucky, we won't have to worry about self-terminations at all. On the other side, the understandable confusion of the girls has them constantly pushing their Operatives to find the location of their bodies. Eventide suggested implanting failsafes into the life-support, but he was voted against. One Catalyst is more important than an entire Combat School for Hunters._

 _At least they have been reported to have stopped screaming. The easiest part is over, it seems. Now comes the next phase: how will these girls adapt to a life of combat? Will their minds hold, or will they snap like those of the previous generation? Only time shall tell. In the meantime, we're testing two of our most successful kiddos. Let's see how they can fare against a camp of organized PMC's."_

 _-FIELD RECORDING 7C, Professor K. Greene, Chief Scientist of Onyx's neuro-science division._


	8. Chapter 8

" _To anyone who finds this…this is Doctor Azure, previously employed with Onyx's special weapon program, code-named ACE. I have done what only few scientists have done before and defected from this…this layer upon layer of complexes and madness. I don't think I'll last very long…someone's bound to find me here in Vale. So this…this is for the record._

 _I couldn't handle the scale. The sheer scale with which we worked…nobody knows it, but this group has been around since…since forever. The dark ages…the Grimm wars. They were there when Dust was discovered…they were there when the traditions were founded and mankind started winning. They have always been there…and they will always be here. You see, it's not a group of people. It's not an organization with funding. It's so much more…Onyx is a system. A cycle. It comes and goes every few decades to…to sweep and clean up. It leaves no traces, leaves no witnesses. Whenever things escalate…they clean up and disappear. They wiped out everything on the Northern continent to prevent the Grimm from overrunning the coastal cities and the other Kingdoms…it is the reason why nobody has ever heard of us. Them. I still need to get used to this._

 _The things I've done…I know I am going to pay for it. Perhaps in the afterlife, but certainly with my current life. Or what's left of it. I am not sure if it is possible, but I think I paid with my soul for the things I have done. For the lives I have ruined…the pain I have caused. Sometimes I think I see them…glaring at me. Blaming me. And they are right. Greene is convinced that we did right…that we worked to safe mankind again each passing day. But I see the children we twisted and damaged and damned for our purposes. I see the haunted looks in my colleagues working with the Catalyst Program. I know what went on there. I know what IS going on there. The inhuman things we do…I will end up paying for it all. Because I never did a thing. I never helped…never TRIED to help. In a way, that makes me as much a monster as it has made Greene one. When I see the results of normal individuals wearing the suits…and I see the results of the Catalyst-implanted ones…I can't help but feel like the Grimm aren't the monsters._

 _I have considered taking my own life. I certainly have the means…the motivation…but I didn't. I have yet to fully take responsibility for my role in Vale's misfortune. I have let so many things happen…I have let so many things gone by unnoticed…I have to do something worthwhile. For once, I need to help someone. And I think I know how. Vale is the home of quiet a few individuals wronged by Onyx. And a few of them…I think I can ask Yale for help. He has the motivation as well. Love redeems, they say. And nothing hurts more than an unanswered love, lost without warning. If he can help the daughters even the slightest bit…it won't have been for nothing –[ERROR DATA MISSING. RECONSTRUCTING DATA]. -managed to locate Raven Branwen, known to Onyx as subject Brimstone. She's alive and out there, somewhere. If you find this Yale, pass it to her brother. Qrow is one of the biggest thorns in Onyx's side and he will know what to do."_

* * *

 **Unidentified hideout, outskirts of Vale**

Quietly counting to three, Lisa Adamant stepped up towards the bouncer of the club and scraped her throat, trying to get his attention. "Excuse me?"

The man turned to face her, crossing his massive arms over his chest as he appraised her. Why did they always pick the big ones? Seriously, how many giant men did Vale's criminal circuit have? "Walk along girl. This ain't no playground."

Lisa gritted her teeth and looked over her shoulder, glaring daggers at her partner. _Permission to kick his ass?_

The boy didn't pull a muscle as he subtly shook his head, keeping his stern expression as he told her to suck it up. _Not yet._

"I'd like to get in," she said, forcing a smile on her face. Damn, this guy had to be twice as big as she was. Even mister Braunschweiger would have to crane his neck to look at him. "Or do I need an official bad-guy pass?"

She could basically feel Mauve sighing behind her. But what did an ex-cop know about getting into bad places? Right, nothing at all. Only Adamants did.

The bouncer didn't reply. Instead, he shoved a meaty hand towards her, palms up. He really wanted a bad-guy pass! Well, she could give him one.

"Sure," Lisa said, handing him her brother's ID. "Now if you will excuse me-"

He didn't excuse her. In fact, as he grabbed her shoulder with his other hand, he looked like he wasn't going to excuse any of them, ever. And damn, his fingers were freaking huge. Like, entire sausages huge. Blake had whacked her over the head during the food-fight with stuff that was smaller than these fingers!

"Are you," he asked, "Matthew Tealdore Adamant?"

"Yup," Lisa said with a smile. "That's me. Can I come in now?"

The bouncer increased his grip on her shoulder and frowned. "Wait…I know this clown. Adamant…the goddamn Adamant Clan! Where'd you get this?"

"That's a long story. When you turn a certain age, the government decides that you need to be able to identify yourself. So you have to get a card with your name on it…"

He pulled her from her feet and dragged her away from the door. "Don't bullshit me. This ain't you!"

"Oh no," she blandly said, ignoring the urge to grab her weapon and beat the guy's skull in. "What gave me away? The fact that I don't carry two bowties on my chest? The lack of stupid hair?"

"Adamant is a teacher on Beacon," the bouncer told her, throwing the card at the ground. "You're too young to be one!"

And he was too big to be a proper man! How was she supposed to beat his face in if she couldn't reach his face without using a ladder?

Lisa turned to look at Mauve for more of his wisdom, but he was currently communicating with Grace over team LACG's communication channel. Right. So she was cleared to make all the violent decisions she wanted to, as sanctified by him. Cool. "I'm his sister. Now I really want to go inside there -can you let me get in?"

He released her shoulder and shoved her away. "You watch it! Any Adamant that walks up to me gets their teeth smashed in! They've got bounties on their heads, kid!"

Why, her brother? A bounty? From Mistral? Vacuo? Atlas? Maybe here in Vale? He had pulled enough crap to warrant a hundred bounties on his stupidly-grinning head. What was so important about that? As an Adamant, gathering bounties was basically part of life! Or were those parking tickets

"Is Grace done yet?" Lisa asked her partner, ignoring the blatant threat of the bouncer for a quick moment.

"Almost. She asks if we infiltrated the club yet."

"Not yet." With that, Lisa activated her emergency anti big-guy plan. She brought her knee up and violently slammed it between the bouncer's legs, dropping him in one smooth movement. "Alright, we're in. Damn that felt good…Yang was right; groin attacks do work."

"I'll tell her we're ready," Mauve replied. He tapped a few buttons on his Scroll, then suddenly extended his hand towards the fallen bouncer and activated his wrist-mounted synapses, exploding a bundle of electrified cables right into his face and knocking him out for the better part of the day.

"Now we're ready," he remarked with his boring voice.

"Whatever. Come along, Cho."

"It's Jason."

"Right, right. Let's start this baby off with a bang!" She approached the door and kicked it open, before casually strolling into the club. Bar. Thing. Well, there was alcohol and cozy lights, so it had to be a club. But there were also lots of tough-looking customers, so it had to be a bar as well. Bikers, probably drug dealers and a group of what looked like gangsters. Nice.

Lisa ignored the fact that every single individual inside of the club turned to stare at her and headed straight towards the bartender, who was busy cleaning glasses. She had seen Matt do this lots of times; she could do this.

"Morning," she said, sitting down in front of the man. He had a filthy moustache and a feeble attempt at a beard growing from his chin. Now, just to initiate her cool voice. She scraped her throat and asked, "I'm looking for someone." She made sure to place her hand on the counter as she did, and looked away.

"Good for you," the bartender replied with a gravelly voice. He stank as well.

"A woman. Red hair, crazy eyes. Psychopathic disorder, probably."

"Well then. I'm sure you can find her…somewhere else."

Lisa turned to face him and initiated the second stage. The wild stare. "Yes…somewhere else. I don't think so. You see…maybe you can help me."

"I really don't think so."

"Then maybe… _this_ …will change your mind." She reached for her pocket and pulled out a bundle of cash, shoving it towards the bartender, who subtly accepted it.

His expression turned from satisfied to confused, then to anger. "You're gonna need a lot more than five…wait, what is this?"

"Matt-money," Lisa replied, glancing at the print of her brother's head on the currency. "Invented by the famous Matt Adamant and used as official currency inside of at least one company."

The bartender frowned and glared at her. "I think you should get the hell out of here, right now."

The leader of team LACG sighed and shook her head. "Yeah, you see, that's not going to work. I need to know where I can find a woman called 'Crimson' and I need it now. I know you know and you know that I know you know. So cough it up."

The man pulled out a revolver and pointed it at her forehead, growling, "show me yours, punk."

Lisa smirked. "If you insist…." And with that, she pulled her Type-25 from her back. Yet to be nicknamed, her baby was more than enough to send the big men weeping. Part high-explosive high-velocity rifle, part giant freaking knife, all badass. Also, four to five feet tall, meaning it had to be carried underhanded. "Mine's bigger than yours!"

Unfortunately, the second she pulled her rifle out, every single denizen of the bar stood up and turned to glare at her, most likely not to appreciate her beautiful knife-rifle hybrid.

"Shit," she muttered. Did her Adamant eyes spot a redheaded psycho hidden away in there somewhere? She thought so. She couldn't be sure.

"You're not really good at this, are you?" the bartender sneered, but he was unable to pull the trigger. It probably had to do with the blind-folded girl who snuck up behind him and kicked him in the spine, before bashing his face in against the counter.

"Alessa!" Lisa exclaimed. "Nice timing! Where did you leave Grace?"

The girl shrugged, wiping a strand of white hair behind her ear. So Grace was waiting in the back? Good.

What was not as good was the fact that every single customer pulled out their weapons as well. Lisa glanced around, spotting knives, pistols, shotguns and even an old lady with what looked like an anti-tank weapon. They really couldn't handle young customers very well, could they? Well, she knew a way to defuse this situation before it escalated.

"Don't worry!" she shouted at the angry people. "We're students from Beacon on a secret mission! We're here to pick up a dangerous psychopath before she can commit more terrorism!"

"Lisa," Cho warned her. "That won't work-"

"I´m Lisa Adamant, heiress to the Adamant Clan and sister of Matt Adamant! You know him, don´t you?"

Safeties were clicked off, knives were sharpened and barrels were aligned with her head. Well then.

"It's alright! See this guy?" Lisa pointed to her partner, who slammed the palm of his hand against his forehead. "He's a cop. Used to be with the VPD. Wait, ex-cop. Sorry, he stopped because he could kick more criminal ass on his own."

"Will you stop?" Mauve snapped at her.

"Almost. We've got our demolitions expert around somewhere as well. If you could just surrender your psychopaths to us, we'll be right on our way. I'm sure your bouncer will wake up soon as well."

"Are you done now?" Alessa quietly asked, deploying her wrist-mounted claws.

Lisa looked around and spotted Grace, sneaking around behind the mob to place one final security measure. "Yep."

"Get them!" one of the customers yelled. It looked like the fight was joined then!

"Grace, do it!" Lisa snapped, diving for cover when she shooting started. Mauve kicked over one of the tables and ducked behind it as a hail of bullets was directed his way, reaching for his close-quarters defense system.

"On it," the brunette yelled back, grabbing a detonator from her belt and pressing the red button at the top.

Nothing happened though.

"Damnit Grace!" Lisa yelled, kicking one of the gangsters in the face and using her rifle to cleanly bisect a fire-axe. "Did you use the right stuff?"

"I always use the right stuff!" Grace Auburn yelled back, grabbing her weapon and leaping for cover when someone fired a shotgun at her. "One moment!"

The Adamant was about to raise another point when the entire building exploded in a blaze of fire and glory. Walls ignited, the ceiling came crashing down and the entire floor was reduced to splinters.

"There we go!" Grace yelled, brandishing her weapon and bashing it against the head of a severely-dazed biker. "Delayed fuses!"

Alessa leapt over the counter and went to town on the surprised and shocked denizens. How she was able to see while wearing a blindfold was one of Beacon's greatest and most well-guarded secrets as of yet. Even Lisa did not know the full extent of her ability, though she knew the origin of it. As always, when concerned with ruined lives and gruesome human experiments, Onyx was involved. Well, a defected team of Onyx-affiliated scientists in the North, that was.

For a girl who mostly kept to herself and uttered only a few words per day, she sure had a beautiful fighting style. Brutal enough to make Lisa feel all warm with pride. None of that fancy scythe-spinning or sword-fighting; just swish and stab. Heel introducing face to the curb, claws stabbing and clawing at the sensitive places and a whole chest filled with dirty tricks that would make team CRDL shiver with fear.

"Watch out for the head-trauma!" Lisa told her teammate, watching as she bashed someone over the head with a brick. "No killing, only seriously maiming! You know the code!"

Alessa didn't respond, but she must have understood, because she dropped the brick and continued with a broken piece of wood. Which was still on fire.

"Cho," Lisa then called. "Where is our target? Where is Crimson?"

"She slipped out the back," her partner replied, dodging several strikes from guys wielding knives before tazing them in their stomachs with his electrified stun baton. "If you can cover me-"

"Grace, I want fire on Cho's direction!"

"On it," Grace replied, folding her weapon into its ranged mode and opening fire on Mauve's general direction. A long, wide stream of fire emerged from the barrel of the compact flamethrower, separating LACG's only male from the group of bikers that was pinning him down with gunfire.

"Go get her, Cho!" Lisa yelled, punching a hairy man in the stomach before slamming her rifle against his face. "Alessa, cover him. Find out where they're going!"

No reply or confirmation, but that wasn't really necessary either. Alessa obeyed, because she knew what her role was in this team. Not kicking copious amounts of ass -that was Lisa's task- or rigging an impossible lock to blow like a whisper into the night -that was Grace's task- but the most important task of all. The task that made LACG the most capable anti-bad guy team that the first three years of Beacon had to offer. Alessa was capable of seeing things that others did not. On a range up to fifty meters, near-perfect clairvoyance. Well, that was probably not how it worked, but the idea was the same. Either it was her Aura, or her Semblance, but she could see through walls and doors and spot things that were hidden from everyone else.

As Cho raced off -no doubt putting his training to good use- Alessa darted in the opposite direction and disappeared through one of the back entrances.

"Grace, after her," Lisa then called. "I'll cover Mauve."

"Got it."

As her team darted towards their individual tasks, Lisa recalled the layout of the club and the surrounding streets, most of which they had already barricaded or otherwise rigged. She had no idea what sort of important mission team RWBY and JNPR were on, but this was somewhat personal. While there were terrorist attacks and all sorts of nasty groups at work in every Kingdom, a very persistent cell kept popping up here in the city of Vale. At Beacon, too. Someone had attacked the CCT during the dance party and that had resulted in the complete destruction of the tower. Onyx always went a bit overboard with their demolitions. But Headmaster Ozpin was convinced that the culprit could be tracked down through the long, long, _looong_ list of henchmen and followers that were involved. One of them -that fetishistic woman who went by the name "Cassandra Thyrian"- had been eluding both Beacon as local authorities for months now. She and her people had escaped team LACG even when they had Professor Port and even Matt with them, proving to be elusive enough to avoid being caught by Onyx as well.

No longer. Her most trusty assistant -if that was who this psycho was- had messed up this night. Visiting clubs and bars in Vale was a very bad idea after all.

Lisa headed towards the roof, dodging a few falling pieces of burning wood as she went. Team LACG had been mopping up those cells for days now, constantly cleaning up after the others.

And the teams didn't make it very easy on them. Ruby's team in particular had an annoying knack for mass destruction. Which moron would flee a rampaging robot of death by heading to a highway and jumping over cars, anyway? Every shady character in a radius of a mile had taken that ruckus as a reason to pack their stuff and move out.

And that was even without the implications of RWBY's involvement in the Breach, forcing LACG to completely abandon one of the most promising trails in a long time.

At least they had managed to bring their…package…with them that day.

Oh well. The rules were simple this time; catch Crimson, kick her ass so thoroughly that she spills the beans on Miss Fetish and then catch her as well. Commence more ass-kicking and find out who was behind the attack on the CCT as well as the Breach. After that? Probably ass-kicking.

Lisa jumped over a fallen chimney and grabbed her scroll, contacting Cho to inform him of the next phase. If things went right, Crimson would escape. However, things never went right. Something always went wrong and this time, they had accounted for that.

Ah, there they were. Two tiny figures running around in the night, heading directly away from the club and towards a major road. Got it.

"Cho, stand by. Grace? Blow the third batch."

" _Right."_

A puff of smoke and a large ball of fire indicated that the next phase was successful. The third batch had detonated one of the support walls of the nearby building, toppling it and forming a make-shift barricade. It forced Crimson -the little psycho bitch- to take the right detour and head back towards the club. Another detonation would collapse the road towards the club however, forcing her to take yet another detour towards the true ambush zone.

"Detonate second batch!"

" _Alrightie then."_

And that was where the plan went rightly wrong. The second batch failed to detonate, keeping the way open for Crimson and preventing her from moving towards the true ambush zone.

Lisa pumped her fist and smiled. "Yeah," she muttered. "The plan is falling apart! It works! Alessa, you are free to engage."

At a certain position -roughly fifty meters away from the club- the terrorist was jumped by a wooden wall suddenly breaking and revealing LACG's recon specialist, who immediately went on the offensive.

Lisa smirked and leaped off the roof, heading towards the sounds of combat. Three times the woman had eluded team LACG, constantly managing to humiliate them in one way or the other. No longer. It seemed that the Adamant way of thinking could still put even the most thorough psycho off their path.

Grace was tinkering with a pair of handcuffs, rigging them to some form of firebomb. Cho and Alessa were fighting to keep Crimson pinned down, resorting to some pretty nasty tricks to get that to work. As Lisa casually strolled towards the fighting group, she watched Alessa throw a fistful of dirt into Crimson's eyes, which in turn allowed Mauve to whack her at the base of her spine with his stun baton.

The woman stumbled, right into Lisa's path.

"Hello," the Adamant grinned, lifting her boot.

"Oh fuck you!" the psycho managed to yell, before Lisa kicked her in her face and knocked her out.

"That's my line," she replied. She then spat on the ground and added, "and for the record, I would have kicked your ass the first time if you hadn't run!"

" _You_ would have kicked her ass?" Grace asked, taking her modified handcuffs and binding Crimson's wrists behind her back. "You sat back and watched."

"I commanded the team. Different thing."

"Well, it worked. First time for everything," Jason dryly commented, before gesturing at the handcuffs. "Think those will hold her? People can break cuffs."

"Oh," Grace replied, "she can try. It'll just detonate the incendiary component in the cuffs, toasting her hands. I don't think she can run if her arms are on fire. Or if…you know, her skin is melting away. Nasty stuff."

"She's a classic psychopath, Grace," Cho replied with a sigh. "Profile: shallow emotions, lack of empathy, planned killers and mostly unaffected by discomfort. Pain can actually turn them on."

"Which is why we call her boss-lady "Miss Fetish"," Lisa said. "Alessa? Penny for your thoughts?"

The blindfolded girl looked at the prone form of the fallen criminal. "I say we don't give her the chance to run."

Lisa ran her fingers over her chin, contemplating her friend's words. "Alright, alright. I know how to break a leg in theory. Also on accident. Never did it on purpose." She never told anyone, but she really hated the sound of breaking bones. Freaked her out.

"I don't think I could do it," Grace said, fumbling with a grenade. It still had the pin in it, unlike last time. "Correction: I don't think I _want_ to do it."

"We swore never to attack helpless people," Cho said as he started checking Crimson for weapons.

"Ex-cop, remember?" Lisa tried.

"Wake her up and I'll break both her legs. I won't do it when she's knocked out."

"I'll do it," Alessa said without pulling a muscle. She sounded so lovingly nonchalant.

Lisa blinked, before shrugging. "Alright, problem solved. Got a preference for left or right?"

"I don't care."

"We could flip a coin?" Grace suggested.

Alessa just stared at her partner for a few awkward seconds, before moving to go to work. Just as Lisa thought; the sound of a breaking bone was just awful.

Although it did sound like someone breaking a log for firewood. Minus the screaming, of course. It was a good thing that Ruby wasn't here though. There was a difference between never killing an enemy and never _killing_ an enemy.

Basically the Adamant code in a nutshell.

* * *

 **Beacon Academy - 1 day after Onyx incursion at the borders -9:11 local time**

At least that was something they could work on now. With the tournament coming soon, he would have to find a way to use that mass-distraction. With everybody focused on senseless fighting and tactical exposition, he could find out where Onyx had stored away Ancilla's body. Time would be short though; only a few days to pull off what he hadn't been able to do for years. Alice was an invaluable ally, but she was all he had with this. And Remnant was a big place to search, even for two Operatives. That thought led to another. It stung.

"Do you know what's the worst about living here?" he quietly said as he glanced through the first window of the hallway. "Here at Beacon?"

 _´Looking at all these beautiful people that are working on their futures, knowing that we don't have one? A future?'_

Of course. No hiding things from her. "It's like a thought, stuck in the back of my mind. They do their things, their hobbies…they can do so much."

' _But we can do things too! We…we know how to survive. Stay alive in the wilderness and…and…you protect people. That's the best kind of thing to do.'_

"Look at it this way. Ruby likes drawing and writing. I look at a pencil and I see myself using that pencil, stabbing someone in the throat, or in the eye. Blake likes reading- "

' _And you got books if I grew bored, letting me read them. Teach you culture, fantasy and creativity. You're being negative_

He sighed. "It was just an example. My problem is that I don't know anything. I can't do anything that will allow me to live my life outside of Onyx. The people are right, Ancilla. I'm like a weapon; I only kill."

' _Don't let them indoctrinate you again. You're not evil; if you were, you and I wouldn't be here.'_

Will hesitated, before asking, "Indoctrinate?"

' _You know. Tell someone your opinion until that becomes their opinion as well. My…sociology taught me that. It's not wrong, is it?'_

"No, but…" evil was such a black and white word. People weren't truly evil; they just did bad things. Or things that others saw as bad. To him, modern generals were evil. To the civilian population, he was evil. What was he to the people who mattered? To Yang and Ruby? To Weiss and Blake? Everyone he had wronged, everyone he had bled for. "If they think we are evil, is that our fault? Theirs?"

' _Onyx's. In time, I will break the chains that Onyx wrapped around your soul. And we will be free.'_

Will clenched his fists, not sure what to think. What to believe. "First we find your body. Get you to safety."

' _And that's the way it goes! Now, I think that-'_

Something appeared in the window, filling the entire pane and causing Will to jump back in surprise. It was twisted, evil and wrong. His entire body revolted at the mere sight of it. Blank, human-like, but so utterly _wrong_ that he felt like throwing up. It was only there for a split-second before it disappeared, but the ripples it drew across the surface of the window remained. Grew, spread across the floor and the walls and the ceiling. Twisted the very air, took the sound and replaced it with a heavy droning noise that seemed to drown out everything else.

The lights flickered and changed, the air grew heavy and hostile. Like a carpet, smothering his senses. This was wrong; dangerous. They had to get out of here!

With his heart beating so fast that it felt like it had risen up to his throat, Will staggered away from the window, clutching his mouth. "What the…what was that?"

' _You never told me it was like this,'_ Ancilla said with an odd voice. Strained, distant. ' _What passing bells for those who die like cattle…'_

"A-Ancilla?" Will stammered, frantically looking around the dark, empty tunnel that he found himself in. Greenish, yellowish shadows crept over the walls, twisted and warped. His legs trembled, his stomach churned and the air grew very cold. Oppressive, evil.

'T _he demented choirs of wailing shells…the stuttering rifles' rapid rattle…'_ Her voice changed, became shrill and hysterical. ' _Not like this -I don't want to die like this!'_

He took a deep breath and managed to keep himself from doubling over and retching. He didn't have any weapons on him -a sign of good will to others. Why, why was he unarmed? Why now, why here of all places?

' _Let it stop! Please, make it stop!'_

Will groaned and clutched his head, falling against the dark, slimy wall. He couldn't focus; his mind felt like it was going to fall apart, throbbing and burning and screaming.

He didn't get it; what had gone wrong? What was happening? Was this the fault of his damaged Aura, finally consuming the last of his soul's sanity? Or was this her, succumbing to the damage that had been festering for so many years?

Something stirred at the far end of the hallway, distorting the air and growing out of the walls. Black, slimy tentacles that dripped with filth and mud, stained by the blood of a thousand young souls. A torso that was uncannily human, yet lither and oddly angled. Larger than any human. Impossibly so. And its head…merely gazing at it filled the Operative with dread, pinning him to the ground with its cruel, demented appearance. No eyes, no features, nothing. A single, round opening where its mouth was supposed to be. A dark, gaping hole.

"Ancilla?"

' _We're all going to fall here-'_

"Ancilla!"

'- _drowning in mud and blood, amidst thousands of bodies-'_

The thing never made a noise. Never made a sound. A white lab coat that reached to its waist, as stained as the disturbances around it. Long arms, daggers for nails. No legs, just a tuberous mess of whirling tentacles that crept along the ground, reaching towards him-

Will couldn't move. He could only watch as his personal hell rose up and filled the hallway with its filth, extending its corrupting tendrils across every surface it could find. It felt…it felt as if he knew this abomination, more deeply and more intimate than he could ever understand. It aroused such undiluted feelings of terror and helplessness within him that it could not possibly be here for him. It wasn't his -he knew that, as if on instinct.

Half his mind pulled him towards the being, telling him to defy it. The other half told him to lie down and die, to accept it into his heart and let it consume him.

He honestly did not know which one to listen to.

"Ancilla, what do I do?" he whispered, struggling to remember how to move his legs.

' _No one will remember out names…no one will care-'_

"What do I do!"

She was gone. He couldn't reach her -it had found her soul. It would consume them both.

Will sank through his knees, the alien sensations of terror and corruption winning out over what normally drove him. The filth on the floor rose up, sucking in his hands and feet and forcing him deeper down, down into the mud once more-

A sound reverberated through his head, clearer than the droning. Sharper than the tendrils. The pure, terrified sobs of a girl in despair.

This thing was going to kill her.

There was his drive. A last, near-mechanical shard of logic tucked away deep inside the chaotic fray of his mind, telling him what to do. Telling him to neither fight nor die, but just to run.

Will backed away on all fours, watching as the being started to advance on him. Rose above the tentacles and fluids, pulling itself towards him.

Never before had something horrified him this much. His heart was pounding, his breathing was short and irregular -but if he could just get away from it, she would be safe.

He turned around and ran -tearing his feet free from the grasp of the mud and the blood. Almost immediately after he moved, the being lunged for him. Thick coils of black appendages shot from the walls, their razor-sharp points narrowly missing his limbs as he ducked and weaved around them. He was slow, narrowly avoiding the horror that was so hell-bent on engulfing him once more.

Will rounded the corner, ending up in the exact same hallway as before. But this time, the other side wasn't just a pit of darkness. There was a light, bright and sharp. But so far away…his limbs had grown weary already. Every step his knees buckled, every side-step he stumbled and nearly fell. But the prospect of a savior spurned him on, away from the cloak of despair that weighed down on his soul.

Something wet and thick wrapped itself around his ankle, jerking his leg backwards and pulling him off his feet. He smashed against the ground, but there was no filth to engulf him. No mud, no blood, no tendrils. Solid ground along which he could drag himself onwards. The light at the other end moved too, but not away. Towards him. A voice rang out, but he didn't understand it. Neither did he recognize it. The being pulled him back and away from the safety of the light though, wrapping more of the slimy, painful appendages around his waist and arms.

A scream escaped over his lips as the tendrils moved across his skin, slicing through his clothes and carving into his skin-

"Will!"

And then they were gone. They shattered, turned to dust and fades away as light flooded into the hallway and washed the corruption and filth away. The constricting sensation lingered on, but he was no longer stuck in the dark. So much light…and someone sitting in front of him. Kneeling, gratifyingly human.

He looked up from his prone position on the ground, fearing that he might have ran into another horror. That was not the case. She was a girl, with red hair and black clothes. A red cape, draped across the ground. An aura of mercy and compassion, burning so bright that it nearly hurt his eyes.

Will didn't hesitate. He pushed himself up from the floor and fell against her arms, wrapping his around her waist and pressing his head against her chest. No coldness, no pain. Just warmth and a soothing voice.

Safety.

"Wow, hey!" she exclaimed, nearly falling backwards. "It's alright, it's me."

The young soldier took a shuddering breath and felt something give away on the inside. "Ruby," he whispered with his voice on the verge of breaking, as if calling her name would take away the fear and the uncertainty. The being was gone…the thing had disappeared. Where had it gone? "There is…there was a…I…"

"You're bleeding, what happened? Was there a fight?"

His head flared up again and for a brief second, Ruby's outlines were caught in a flash of thunder, surrounded by fields of trenches and barbed wire. Blood was falling like the rain, he could feel it running over his cheeks, falling to the ground in droplets of crimson. "No, let it go, we've moved!" he snapped, closing his eyes and recoiling away from her.

"Oh no," Ruby murmured, before grabbing a hold of his shoulders with her slender hands. "Will, look at me. Look at me. Look at me! You're at Beacon! See the windows? We're safe here, nobody -wait, where did you get that knife?"

Will opened his eyes and looked down at his right hand, which was clutching a short, blood-stained knife. Panic took his heart and he immediately dropped the blade, which he hadn't even had on him. He had been unarmed, completely and utterly unarmed. "I didn't -what- "

No. no no no no! Impossible. It had been their combined decision to keep away from all weapons during their recuperation, this wasn't possible!

He backed away from Ruby until he hit the wall, kicking at the fallen knife in the process.

"Did someone attack you?" Ruby asked, ignoring the bloodied weapon on the ground and walking over towards him. "Or did you…you know…have an accident?" Not waiting for an answer, she knelt down next to him, gently running a finger across one of the cuts on his arm. "Did you…did you do this?"

She didn't…she didn't see it? How could she have missed, it was right on top of them! "It wasn't me!" he immediately said. "I…I wouldn't!"

"Not?" Ruby's expression of concern turned to one of surprise. She kept calm though; very calm. It helped his efforts to keep control of himself. Yet she couldn't keep her own panic away, it seemed. Her voice made it sound like she had to make a considerable effort to keep her head cool. "Then what happened? Who attacked you, what did this?"

Will reached for his forehead with his hand, only to find that it was clean. No mud, only a few splatters of blood. His breathing hitched and his eyes burned…was this really how he felt? The terror, the helplessness? He didn't _want_ that. He didn't want any of this. "I'm scared," he whispered. Admitted. No longer a sign of weakness, but a cry for help. Whose? Ancilla's, or his? "Ruby…I'm scared."

"I know," she said, gazing at his eyes like there was something wrong with them. "You're crying."

"I'm…crying?" He touched the skin around his eye, and his hand came away wet. No blood, no mud. "How am I crying?"

"Sometimes people don't notice it happens," Ruby reassuringly said, sitting down next to him. Her back to the wall. "I think you're suffering from a panic attack. Come on, can you tell me what happened? What you saw happen?"

"Something chased me," Will replied, unable to take his eyes away from the wetness on his fingers. The last time this had happened, it had been…just little over a year ago. The day that Ancilla died.

The day she killed herself.

"What chased you?" Ruby continued. Her voice was trembling, but she felt so soft. So _warm_. He had gone so long without touch that he had almost forgotten what it felt like. Ruby and Yang, both of them were so…open in who they made contact with.

"A monster. I don't know what it was…"

"Do you think it was a Grimm?"

He shook his head, though he wasn't sure of anything right now. "It couldn't have been…I don't think so."

"Hmm…you know…I don't think a Grimm would get in here. Not in one piece, at least."

"No," Will replied. "I know." And that was arguably the worst thing; he knew that it was not possible that a thing like that could walk Remnant alive. He would have encountered it -he would have killed it.

Why couldn't he kill it?

"It´s getting worse, isn´t it?" Ruby then asked, touching upon something that he hadn't even thought about yet. "The things you see?"

Will reached for his eyes again, frustrated with his lack of control. Disgusted with the pitiful signs of weakness. "I can do this. I can…I can do this." How? Why? Was there something wrong with him? Or was this punishment of some sort? "I can…" It never ended. Even when he had freed Ancilla from that accursed machine holding her soul captive, there was still something out to hurt them. Why didn't it end? "I can't…" It never ended. "I can't do it." If it wasn't the wars and the bloodshed, it was his mind that fell apart. It never ended, unless he ended it himself. And that would not happen. "I can't do this…I can't get the memories out of my head, Ruby. I can't get them out."

"Will…I don't think you're supposed to get them out. Not on your own."

He leant back with his head against the wall, staring at the ceiling. Ruby was leaning against him, pressing her shoulder against his. The warmness of human touch…nearly lost on him. "If what you say is true… and I'm …how can these things hurt me? I…I don't understand. Can you tell me? Please? Just this once?"

"I'm sorry Will," Ruby whispered. "I don't know. I wish I did."

She fell silent. So did he. Of all the things that he did not understand, this was the worst. The most glaring. What was real and what wasn't? Those lines had always been blurry, but now…there weren't any lines left. At least, if he didn't know what was real or not, he could find out _why_ this happened?

Something else crossed his mind and he winced. What would Yang think? "If she could see me now, she'd think I was weak. She would be right."

"Who?" Ruby asked.

"Yang."

Ruby shook her head though. "You know her better than that. Yang would never think that. To her, weakness is letting things beat you. Giving up, giving in. Feeling things isn't being weak, it's being human. And Yang would like nothing more than to see you being human."

She put up a convincing case. Sounded just like Ancilla, too. Onyx said, feeling was for the dead. The important people said, feeling was human. Which should be listen too, if he was unsure? What Onyx had taught him was known. It was safe and proven. Everything outside of that was new and still so hard to grasp.

"Buuut…I don't think she would like seeing you walking around with a bloody knife," Ruby then carefully added. "Especially not if it looked like you used it on…well, yourself. No idea how that even happens?

He shook his head.

"Are you sure something attacked you?"

He nodded.

"Your Aura still doesn't work?"

"No."

Ruby pulled a face. "I'm not an expert, but I don't think this is good."

That was one way of putting it. "Yes."

"Listen…I've got to meet up with Weiss in a few minutes, but don't think we're done! The Vytal festival is going to start soon and it's going to be swarming here with foreign students. Do you remember what Yang told you?"

He nodded. "Stay out of sight, stay out of trouble, wear easy clothes."

"Exactly. Wait, what?"

"I think she means I should clothe like a student."

"But…that's not...never mind. Do you think you can get to your dorms?"

He was being attacked by monsters that only he could see, but he wasn't a child. "Of course I can," Will replied. "Do you…think there will be many people waking the hallways?"

Ruby shrugged. "Dunno. Can you ninja past them?"

Probably not like this. "Yes."

"Alright." Ruby stood up and took a long look at the hallway, frowning as she did. "You know…if Aura is the manifestation of our souls…how is it possible that yours doesn't work? It's not like you're a creature of Grimm, right?"

"Only in occupation," he replied.

"That's not funny. Just get to your dorm without getting into more trouble and things will work out. Good luck."

It wasn't meant as fun. "Good luck," Will softly repeated, watching Ruby leave. "won't cut it."

Getting back to his dormitory wasn't the challenge. That _thing_ stayed away from him during the quick trip through the Academy, but there was something else he had to do. Something that would require a lot more than simple luck.

What exactly was it that Ancilla had remembered that she had broken down so completely? The day Onyx had taken her?

"That was fear," Will quietly spoke as he closed the door to his room behind him. Locked it, making sure nobody would interrupt him. "Panic and dread."

There was no response.

So he continued. "I don't feel that. Not anymore and not yet. Onyx took that away."

The sensation was difficult to work with. He could feel Ancilla's raging emotions, pressing against his own. Her mind in turmoil was pulling his with it, but she wasn't focused on him. Her memories preoccupied her so much that they were like a wall, blocking her from all outside stimuli. Like a wounded animal in hiding.

Still, everything that she felt was real, because he felt it as well. They shared everything, whether they wanted to or not. Pain, adrenaline, everything physical and mental. Their thoughts were private, but their identities were so intertwined that it was hard to determine which part of their past belonged to who. Right now, it felt like she was coming to terms with a specific part of it.

"Back then, those things came from you," he said, hating himself for having to do this. But if he didn't get clarity, they would both go insane. "That fear, the terror."

' _We died that day!'_ Ancilla snapped, lashing out at him such genuine hysteria that Will could feel his stomach clench. Or his heart, whichever did those things. The memories had ceased her sanity and didn't let go again. ' _We took fire and we went down! We died, drowning in our own blood!'_

 _Oh no_. The mud, the lightning, the rain. Knee-deep in filth, drowning and choking. The war.

She remembered wrong. Sort of.

"We didn't die," Will softly replied, looking for anything that might alleviate the headache. His head couldn't handle the stress of having two minds inhabit it, and now it was screaming in protest. "You zoned out. But the war raged on and so did we. We…we moved on. We made it out."

' _How can you be sure?'_ she then asked with a small voice.

"About what?"

' _How are you sure that we're still alive?'_

Will didn't know the answer to that.

* * *

 **Beacon Academy -9:28 -Weapon Forge and Engineering department**

Weiss Schnee carefully positioned the two pieces of Myrtenaster at the opposite end of the forge, silently wondering what her family would think if they saw that she had lost her weapon. She had spent months honing the idea of the weapon in her head, gathering schematics and resources. Even engineers who had helped her review the design, prepare the raw materials. The time she had spent convincing her father that she was, in fact, very qualified to become a Huntress.

And that was before the training had commenced. Even then, her father had not been amused and she had felt that.

The door behind her opened and closed again, prompting Weiss to hastily look over her shoulder and subsequently breathe a sigh of relief when she saw that it was Ruby, not some haphazard student blindly stumbling into this place.

"That took you long enough," Weiss said, subconsciously fumbling with her skirt.

"Sorry," the little redhead replied. "I thought I forgot to lock the door to our dorm. I didn't."

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "Oh really?"

Ruby smiled. "Yup."

"Right." Ruby looked…off. More so than usual. Disturbed, even. "Are you alright? You look pale."

"Ehm…yes? I mean no. I mean…there was a thing."

Thank goodness for such a tremendous vocabulary. "A thing. Are you going to tell me what sort of thing?"

Ruby shrugged, walking towards the forge and picking up one of the books that she had put there a while back. "You know. A thing, involving stuff. It wasn't anything wei -yeah, it was pretty weird. It's all right now though! I think…"

She was starting to sound like Professor Adamant. "If something happened," Weiss started, but Ruby didn't let her finish.

"Can we talk about something else? Please?"

Well, how could she ignore that? "Fine. Did you speak to Blake this morning? She wasn't at Beacon during the night."

"Oh, you know how she is. She likes running away. She sent me a message last night, saying that she was going to visit a friend."

Ruby seemed very eager to jump at that new subject. "A friend?" Weiss replied, surprised. "What, Sun is going to talk to her about _that_? He would be the least eligible! And in the middle of the night?"

"Guess Blake agreed with that. She went to a different friend."

"A different…you're not joking, are you? She went to visit Mantis?"

"Nah-ah, don't call her that. Her name is Alice. I'm not rascal, I'm Ruby. You're not princess, you're Weiss."

Weiss glared at Ruby. "Thank you so much for that clarification. How…informative."

And Ruby didn't seem to catch any of the sarcasm. "You're welcome!"

Despite herself, Weiss couldn't suppress a smirk. One of Ruby's most dominating traits was her innocent form of naivety. An innocence that, given recent events, was even more welcome than Atlas sending their troops to safeguard Vale. "I've prepared the forge just like you told me to. Temperature and everything. How did you want to start this again?"

"Well, we're going to try and get the two halves back together. We'll need some residue metal and lots of Dust. Also, you're going to have to use your Aura at a certain point. Helps smoothen things out."

"Thanks for that very clear explanation," Weiss replied. "Enlightening."

"Well, you're lucky Will only broke it in half. He could have also splintered the hilt or something."

Weiss was about to retort when she realized that, in an odd way, Ruby was actually right. In the heat of the moment, the results could have resulted in catastrophe or tragedy. And while nobody had walked away from that fight unscathed, they could have actually chalked that mission down as successful. However, they were still far away from lucky. "I would have preferred it if he hadn't ruined my weapon at all."

"I guess so. But with a fight like that, something was bound to be ruined. I'm just glad it wasn't any of us."

"Why did anything have to be ruined though?" Weiss asked, crossing her arms. It was fascinating to watch Ruby prepare the many facilities that were required for repairing Myrtenaster and now that the two of them were alone, they could finally talk in peace. "I still don't get it. Alessa hacked the file that Alice brought back from her last…whatever it is that she does in her spare time. And Blake stole the files back before anything bad could happen."

"Sounds like you're pretty much up to date," Ruby commented.

"Yes, but…that file described the date of death of his supposed partner. A girl called Catalyst. Now, apart from the fact that he _never_ mentioned he had a partner during all the weird things he has done before Beacon, it was the date of _death_ , Ruby. According to the file, she committed suicide." Saying out loud made it even worse. Weiss just couldn't imagine how anyone would ever want to take their own life. What could be so bad that you would willingly end you own existence?

"You never mentioned you had a sister either. You told Lisa that you didn't _have_ any siblings. Some things we don't want to share, Weiss."

Weiss shook her head. "That's not the problem. Seeing what his life is all about, I'm _fine_ with him keeping secrets. No, what I want to know is how a…deceased person…can influence his life for over a year. No, you know what? Influence is the wrong word. She _dictates_ his life. Why?"

Ruby made a sound and hopped on top of the waist-high stone wall that separated the forge from the floor. "I don't know. He believes that she is still with him…and he's happier for it. More open. Whatever he believes he did when he went to "save" her, it worked out." She then paused, glancing at the floor. "And…if he's happier, why would we want to take that away?"

"Because it's happiness based on delusions?" Weiss suggested. She hated how callous she must sound about this particular subject, but someone had to. "Because he clearly doesn't remember what happened? Or maybe because he's in love with your sister."

"Ah." Ruby started fumbling with the end of her cloak. "You found out about that…"

Weiss raised an eyebrow. "I'm surprised that there are people who didn't find out. They're not exactly subtle about it."

"Well, I…you know…it´s not _that_ obvious…"

"You must be joking. Even you are subtler than he is. And at times, I feel like Yang could show some more restraint as well."

It seemed like she had hit a wrong note there. Ruby chuckled and brought her hands to her mouth, but her amusement quickly changed as she realized who she was talking about. "Nah, it's not like she'll give him a heart attack or someth -Weiss! She's going to give him a heart attack!"

"Oh no," Weiss responded with the most deadpan voice she could manage. "What a disaster."

The two of them stared at each other like that, before both of them broke down in laughter. It was a fleeting moment in these times of stress and violence and the Heiress felt like it didn't last long enough. Ever since the day the two of them had faced down the first Tormentor Grimm -the day where Ruby had revealed the depth of her feelings towards her- the time they spent together quickly replaced all of Weiss's less than fond memories of home. She had left behind a life of rules and restrictions, enforced by a most abusive and cruel man who didn't care for his daughters. Here at Beacon, she was free from the gilded cage that had been her youth.

Unfortunately, the world outside the cage seemed more cruel than the one inside of it. "But you know, I'm really starting to feel a little bit worried," Weiss said as she watched Ruby work the forge.

"About what?" the redhead replied. She took off her cape and carefully placed it on the ground, revealing that black corset and blouse. Really distracting.

"It's been a few days since what to be the worldwide reveal of Onyx's way of working. And then, they started revealing dangerous secrets in return. How have people reacted to that?"

"Apart from the Company, not really that much."

"Exactly! Don't you think it's a little bit odd? I mean, thousands of child soldiers isn't really an observation you can ignore."

"We're students, Weiss. We're not really meant to know what the world is doing around us, all the time." Ruby gestured for Weiss to come help her, prompting the Heiress to walk towards the forge. The room was growing very hot very rapidly and the big pit of fire wasn't really helping. "Onyx lied when they said those things, so there's nothing to worry about."

"I don't like not knowing, and there's still so much to find out! Why are Ash, Lily and Cal still here? Why hasn't General Ironwood interfered? Why is Onyx staging random assaults on the city and _why_ aren't we worrying about this more?" She then said, helping her partner place the first half of Myrtenaster into the forge. "We have a lot to worry about."

"Like what?"

"Don't play dumb with me, you! I think you're getting a bit too much involved with these people if all of this looks normal to you."

Ruby ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "It doesn't look normal to me. It never does, hope it never will. But…well, I think I don't know who to think of as the enemy anymore."

Weiss blinked, taken aback by that comment. "How can you say that? After everything that Onyx has done?"

"Ezactly!" Ruby replied. Sparks and small jets of fire jumped up from the forge, as if to accentuate her words. "They've done things that can't be forgiven, but they've saved so many lives doing so! How many wars do you think they stopped? How much Grimm they killed? If they've got thousands of Lily's and Cal's running around, think what they could do if they would just start working _with_ us?"

"Exactly!" Weiss sternly said. "I'm thinking of what they can do, and I imagine my father's company, burning. I imagine Blackwood, nearly killing your sister and ignoring thirteen of us trying to stop him! I'm imagining- "

"A world without Grimm?" Ruby suggested. The way she looked at Weiss, with her large eyes and innocent expression…so desperately trying to ignore the things that Onyx did so that she could remain hopeful

The Heiress remained quiet, contemplating what she knew about Ruby. With both of her mothers lost, one to the Grimm, could she be blamed for seeking a world without monsters? No, not at all. In her eyes, the Grimm were still the biggest threat. And who seemed to do the most about that threat? "Ruby…I understand what you mean. But Onyx isn't the way. We have academies for a reason. If everybody just worked together, it would work out fine."

"But we don't work together," Ruby then said. "You heard what General Eventide said. Atlas causing wars for their economy, Mistral and slavery, Vacuo and government-supported cartels. If we can't work together…"

This thinking was dangerous. Too dangerous. Ruby was getting close to justifying the atrocities that Onyx committed.

Weiss stepped towards her younger partner and wrapped her arms around her waist, pulling the young Rose close against her body. "The greater good. Remember those words? How much they despised you? Tell me Ruby…why do you fight?"

"Because I want to kill the monsters…and protect the innocent…" Ruby whispered.

"And the thousands of Cal's and Lily's out there…why do they fight?"

Ruby lowered her head against Weiss's shoulder, her body slowly going slack. "I don't know."

"Neither do I. And neither do they. We can't let the evil that Onyx does go unpunished simply because, in the midst of all this chaos, they get more results. Look at Ash and Alessa, and at Will and Alice. Those are lives that were ruined by Onyx, but given new meaning by Beacon. Onyx lied about what those Kingdoms did, but they can't lie about themselves."

"We're fighting Grimm and White Fang…and now Onyx and other people as well," Ruby quietly said. "I don't want to fight people. Not like this. Not like Yang and Blake had to."

Weiss could envision how much difficulty Ruby had to be feeling right now. She knew that Yang had taken a life before and Blake…well, that had to be logical. The White Fang didn't do things half. Being forced to kill people your age, with your face? The roles could have easily been reversed. It was no wonder that Ruby would try to ignore that; if she didn't, what was left for her to believe in? "We're not supposed to fight other people. Psychopaths and mercenaries, perhaps. Let me help you then. Onyx is our enemy, but it is _not_ our war."

"Do you…do you think we can do this?" Ruby then asked, looking up at Weiss with those large, silver eyes of hers. Glimmering, wet. "Do you think it will get worse?"

The Heiress gently placed her head down on Ruby's shoulder, running a hand through her hair. "I think that things will get worse. And that is _exactly_ why we can most definitely do this. Together."

Ruby reached for her hand and took a hold of it, intertwining her fingers with Weiss's.

* * *

 _Whatever this might have cost us, it also proved invaluable for the future. We now know that Semblance is definitely influenced by both the psyche as the genetic recombination. Subject Brimstone didn't develop this peculiar manifestation, but her daughter inherited it. Established has been that Operative Blackwood was suffering from psychosis before Operation WALLSTORM commenced, which might have been the reason why his Semblance is so uncannily similar to that of Brimstone's offspring. What I am wondering now…is why this particular family has not stopped causing us problems. First Operative Rose, then Subject Brimstone, followed by the Qrow…and now their next generation is undoing OUR next generation. This should stop. And…I think I know just the right method."_

 _-Personal diary of Professor K. Greene._


	9. Chapter 9

Warning: not-quite-lemon fluff ahead.

* * *

" _So why did they name Blackwood's 'Attera'?"_

 _ **-Professor J. Jet, to Professor Y. Taupe**_

" _The same as Greystone's 'Ancilla'; both of them are from the A-group, so it's gotta be an A, just like other pets. Attera mean 'dark victory' in the old language from the Founding Ages."_

 _ **-Professor Y. Taupe**_

" _And Ancilla?"_

 _ **\- Professor J. Jet**_

" _White slave."_

 _ **-Professor Y. Taupe**_

" _Man, that's a bit…awkward."_

 _ **\- Professor J. Jet**_

" _Not so much; the names reflect how the girls' personality once were, when they were first brought in. Apparently, Attera was like a wild cat. Went for the eyes, until the soldiers started wearing helmets. Ancilla was like a little angel, only crying and trying to run. So adorable."_

 _ **-Professor Y. Taupe**_

 _*Loud laughter*_

 _ **\- Professor J. Jet**_

 _ **(Attachment Alpha)-**_ _'Dark victory' is most likely an indirect translation of the verse "a victory won through bloodshed", pointing to the fresh blood that humans possess._

 _ **(Attachment Bravo)-'**_ _White slave' is an indirect translation in the same verse as seen in_ _ **Attachment Alpha**_ _, pointing to the nature of the subject and its *pure* state of mind._

* * *

 **Library**

 **Beacon Academy**

 **09:12**

Yang knew she couldn't keep dwelling on what had happened, and she really tried to keep herself distracted, but it didn't work like that. Her mind always seemed to return to that starry morning amidst the ruins. At that point, she couldn't help but reflect on the blood on her hands. Wondering why she hadn't stopped in time, accusing herself of murder. Murder not like the first time she took a life, but actual, true murder.

And she knew that it wasn't that simple. She really did! She had been defending both Ruby as herself from an enemy that would not have stopped. Everybody told her that it was alright and that she shouldn't blame herself…but she just couldn't get that young, pale face out of her head damnit! It pissed her off so much, that she wanted nothing more than to _break_ something.

Right. Solving violence with more violence. That would help.

No, what she needed was time. Time and a good distraction -a way to get her mind somewhere pleasant, where she wasn't plagued by feelings of guilt and consumed by the rage that always followed.

Right now, it looked like she had found that distraction. In the library, of all places.

The blonde walked past the first row of books towards the lone boy sitting at the table, who seemed to be reading a book that she wouldn't have ever thought him to ready.

"Sup," she said as she pulled the chair next to him back. "Sleep well?"

"No," Will replied, putting his book down. "You?"

Yang shrugged. "Meh…I've had better. Why are you reading a book called ' _the philosophy of our existence_ '?"

He blinked, looking at her with a mixture of shame and confusion. Or at least, that was what she made of it. She wasn't Ruby. "I was curious."

Soft voice, looking away while replying…yup, he was ashamed. Hah, there was a new one. "What, curious to philosophy? I didn't think you were the type."

"I don't think I am," he replied, looking at the book with a mild frown. "Stupid thing doesn't make sense. It's too thick, too. How are people supposed to read these?'

Yang scooped the book up from the table and quickly went through some of the pages. "Three-hundred pages huh…how long have you been reading?"

"Two hours."

That made for a really boring morning routine. She could freshen that up. "And how far did you get?"

"Ten pages."

Ten? Her uncle Qrow could read faster than that when he was drunk! It wasn't really fair to laugh at him for that, but she couldn't prevent a chuckle from escaping her lips. "Sorry…that's five pages per hour."

Will made an attempt to get the book back, but Yang pulled it out of his reach. "I don't read that much."

"Yeah, I sort of figured that," Yang said with a smile. It was like dangling cookies over Ruby's head.

Suddenly deciding that there needed to be more noise in this library, Will lunged for the book, shooting straight up Yang´s lap and sending the two of them -plus the chair- crashing to the ground in a tangled mix of limbs, wood and a book.

Yang broke down laughing and let go of the hardcover, which the ex-Operative quickly seized. He failed to get back up. "Is this your first time on top?" she teasingly asked him.

He hesitated. "Is there a right answer to that question?" he carefully asked, still not getting up from Yang's chest.

"Don't suppose so," Yang said. "Could you get off me?"

He broke his eye-contact with her and glanced down, as if verifying that he was indeed lying on top of a girl. That must have been a scary realization for him. "Ah...my apologies."

"No probs," Yang said, crawling back to her feet as well. "I've been looking for you all over. Wanna hit the gym together with me?"

"The gym?" he asked, slightly cocking his head sideways.

"Yeah, you know, the training facilities." Yang hadn't thought that the idea of going to the gym would be a difficult one to him. There was probably one, major issue with her question. "I could use some stress-relief and I'm sure you can too."

"Sounds good," Will said, after which he quietly added, "With other people?"

Yup, there it was. "I dunno. Would it matter much?"

He hesitated again, for just a few heartbeats. "No," he then said. "It wouldn't."

Yang smirked and grabbed a hold of his wrist, dragging him away from the table and straight towards the hallway. "Awesome! I've been looking for a good sparring partner for ages."

"A sparring partner? People won't train with you?"

Ouch…a bit of a sore spot. Well, she had started about it, so she couldn't really crawl back. "There aren't that many people who I can really train with. Or really _want_ to train with. Ruby, Blake and Weiss don't really do martial arts like that."

"That makes the list short," Will replied. "Are you sure you want to spar with _me_ though? Wouldn't Ren be a better choice? Lisa?"

Yang glanced over her shoulder, looking at her little Operative with an 'are-you-kidding-me' look that even he had to get. "I don't want to spar with them, I want to spar with you. Work off some sweat. Who knows, we could grab a shower together after that."

"T-together?" Will stammered, his eyes going all wide.

"That's what I said," Yang said with a smirk. What sort of guy would turn scared at the thought of showering with a girl? This sort of guy. "Unless you don't want to…"

"I didn't say that," he quickly corrected himself.

"Good," Yang interrupted him. Even he was not immune to her feminine charms. "Because I think you need the exercise."

"I do?" Will replied with surprise. He took a few quick steps to catch up with her and looked her in her eyes. If he wasn't careful, he would trip. Again. "How come?"

With a smirk, Yang said, "When was the last time you actually trained? Fighting doesn't count."

"Eh…not sure. A month ago? Two?"

"Uh-huh. When was the last time you had a proper meal? MRE's don't count."

"That…well…the same, I guess."

She loved being proven right. "If you don't take care of your skills, you're gonna lose them eventually. And it would be such a shame of Cardin were to out-bench press you, wouldn't it?"

"I guess," he replied. "I don't think I've been at the gym before. Are there proper sparring facilities?"

"Well…there is a fighting ring. No Aura meters though -normally, you use spotters for that."

"Just like for sniping," Will pointed out.

"Exactly. Only they keep an eye on your Aura meters, for obvious reasons. I wouldn't mind a few bruises though."

Will snorted. "Aura meters? That will be fun."

Now that sounded like there was a story behind it. "How come?" The blonde asked, brushing a strand of hair of her face.

"You will see."

When the two of them reached the Beacon gym, it turned out that the ex-Operative's fears of other people were on the spot. Team CRDL was already there, practicing with each other in the ring. Ruby was there too luckily, watching the boys going at it while sharpening her scythe. Odd place to do that.

There were four other girls that Yang didn't know, however. One with dark blue hair and grey clothing, one dark blond hair and a sleeveless green dress, one with black hair and a matching corset and one with long, red hair and something that Ruby would have referred to as a 'combat skirt'. Going by their weapons and unfamiliar faces, they were probably a team of foreign students.

Goodie. More girls to watch her partner. Hopefully team CRDL would be enough to distract them.

"Hey Yang, hey Will!" Ruby enthusiastically called when she saw them enter the gym, standing up and waving at them, nearly carving her chair in half as she did. She was so cute when she accidentally destroyed her surroundings.

"Hey Rubes!" Yang said, waving back. "Waiting for someone?"

"Nah. Just watching."

Cardin and Russel stopped their match to look at the two newcomers, before resuming with newfound vigor. Yang had no idea just what had happened that day during their field operation with Sergeant-Professor Johnson, but seeing the scarred lands of the Death-War had changed them. For the better, in her opinion. Less jerkass, more humbleness.

And ironically, the only Beacon students apart from RWBY to actually behave nicely around Will. Jaune and Pyrrha tried, but it was still awkward. So, between team CRDL and this all-girl team, it could have been worse.

Her little soldier would probably disagree.

The oddly-named sparring ring was an elevated square made out of a cushioning material to lessen falls and hyper-velocity impacts. The people who had built it here had been smart enough to erect a barrier of elastic cables around the edges, preventing trainees from flying off and demolishing the stuff around the ring. They were going to need that today.

Ignoring the glances of the four unfamiliar girls, Yang strode towards the training ring, where Dove and Sky stopped their match to face her. "Morning," he kindly said. "Do you want to…use this thing?"

A bit too nervous for her tastes, but given the reputation of her current company, that was to be expected. "We'd like to, yeah."

Sky nodded and moved aside. "We can wait."

Yang frowned and glanced at the large, open spot in the middle of the ring that was still unoccupied. "You sure? There's enough room."

"Yeah," Cardin said, having stopped his own match as well. "Something tells me that you two are going to need all the room you can get."

So he did know her? Nice. "If you're sure," Yang said, looking over her shoulder to see if Will was still in the room with them. "Coming?"

Will glanced at the four boys for a few seconds before he approached the ring. Either he had decided that they weren't a threat to them, or he was calculating several ways to kill them before they could even sneeze at him. Knowing him, it would probably be the latter, before he realized that it was actually the former.

And just like that, Cardin and his boys shaped up like gentlemen and made room for Yang and her new sparring partner. She could already feel the anticipation burning in her stomach, the giddiness that came before a good fight. She had longed to do this sort of thing with him for weeks. Too bad she couldn't start this like she did with Junior though. Will wouldn't fall for a kiss.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked as Yang took up her combat position.

"What, are you afraid you're going to hurt me?" Yang replied, mocking him just the tiniest of bits.

Will scratched the back of his neck and said, "Somewhat."

Oh please. He couldn't hurt her unless he really, really tried to. It was cute, but Yang wasn't looking for cute now. "Then you're going to get your butt kicked!"

"I'm not saying that- "

But she was. Before Will could finish his sentence, Yang stepped in with her right leg and kicked off, closing the distance between them in the time it took her heart to beat and lashed out with the palm of her hand, greatly holding back the force that she could bring to bear.

He didn't see that coming. Her hand touched his chest and the simple not-even-a-punch knocked him back several meters. He rolled with the blow and was awfully quick to come back to his feet, but still. First hit was hers.

Were her eyes fooling her, or could she see a smile on his face?

"Come on!" One of the girl of the foreign team shouted. "You're going to let a girl kick your ass?"

Yang couldn't help but feel like that was a challenge aimed at him, not her. These girls probably didn't know who she was. Neither did they know him, for that matter, or they wouldn't have 'cheered' him on.

"Fine," Will said to Yang, rolling his shoulders back as if to test them. "If you insist…"

Oh did she ever. "Good boy," Yang said, grinning. Again she kicked off and this time, she nudged her force up somewhat. He could take it. Probably.

She never connected. In the brief moment he had, Will somehow managed to step aside and avoid her attack altogether. There was no chance to follow up, no chance to use her other limbs. She felt something on her shoulder and the next thing she knew, she lay sprawling on the ground.

"What the- "she exclaimed, trying to swiftly jump back to her feet.

It didn't quite go like that.

"Allow me to help you up," Will said, grabbing the fabric that covered her neck. As Yang tried to force her way up, he stepped aside and _pulled_ , flipping her head over heels and slamming her to the ground again.

"Damnit," Yang said with a growl. She couldn't find the leverage to properly get back to her feet again. Was he going to pull this? Really?

Will hadn't completely let go her of her either. She tried to jump back to her feet a second time and he allowed her, but not before spinning behind her back and placing his hands on her hips. He wasn't pulling at her -she could have resisted a dozen Beowolves trying to shove and pull at her. Somehow, he was messing with her balance without giving her anything to fight against.

That, and he placed a leg behind hers right when she was stumbling backwards, ever-so-subtle throwing her to the ground again. It reminded her somewhat of her fight with that pint-sized bitch, back on the White Fang train. Only that undersized brat hadn't gently escorted her to the ground.

"You're awfully quick to start fondling me," Yang said as she was half-lying on the ground, unable to get back up because Will still had his hands on her shoulders. "Now stop with the ninja-stuff and start fighting like a man, would you?"

"Sure." He let go of her shoulders, prompting her to rocket back to her feet and spin around, quickly jumping back to create some distance. She had fought him twice and both times, he had been holding back. Once when he was masquerading as one of Torchwick's goons in an attempt find out who he was working for and then kill them all. The second time…well, nobody really wanted to talk about the second time. Mostly because they were all still figuring out what had happened. _Why_ it had happened.

She had a vague idea of how he fought, but she had _no_ idea which martial art he practiced. Or how many. It was an exciting idea, to be able to fight without having to think of the consequences.

Will assumed a position of his own. Fists closed, chin resting against his chest. Ready for some brawling.

Good.

With a shout, Yang charged into the fight. She threw a series of straight jabs at his face and, when he either dodged or blocked those, followed up by sinking through her legs and trying to sweep his out from underneath his body. That one worked; he got kicked off his feet and was forced to roll backwards to avoid her follow-up strike.

Now _this_ was what she was talking about.

"Go Yang!" Ruby cheered.

Hearing her sister cheer her on in a fight was something that Yang never grew tired of. It made her want to crank up the pace, but she had to think about Will as well. He seemed to be having a problem hitting back. If the reason was what she thought it was…well, she _would_ crank up the pace.

Yang jumped at the ex-Operative once more, unleashing a rapid series of jabs and hooks and driving him back against the corner of the ring. He dodged and redirected, but didn't fight back. At least not in the way she wanted him to.

"Why aren't you trying to hit me?" Yang asked as she leapt in the air and brought her fist down, narrowly missing her target and instead tearing the fabric underneath her feet. How could she get fired up if he didn't even try to hit her?

"I don't want to hurt you," Will replied, keeping up his defense but still _staying_ on it.

The moment he said that, Yang thought of something to take care of that little problem. If he wasn't willing to hurt her, how were they going to have fun? "Stop worrying about that," she said, lowering her arms and closing the distance between the two of them. "Know what? I'll let you have a go."

"What?"

Yang smirked and gestured at her stomach with her thumb. "Hit me. Or are you scared?"

She could hear some of the girls of the other team hooting when she said that, and she wondered if she had gone a little bit too far. Will wasn't accustomed to doing his thing in front of others.

"If you're sure," he replied, suddenly launching an attack at her abdomen. Just like before, he was _fast_. Yang doubted she could have defended herself had she wanted to. Of course, she was fully confident that she could take it. She had taken _many_ blows in her life.

His fist made contact Yang's stomach, partially stopped by her Aura and completely shrugged off by the thick muscles that protected her abdomen.

He raised an eyebrow and followed up a series of lightning fast strikes, each one more powerful than the previous one.

Yang grinned widely as he seemed to realize that he wouldn't be hurting her like that. Though they weren't that pronounced, the muscles lining her body were like iron. If a fully-matured Ursa wouldn't be hurting her like that, what chance did he have?

"That's impressive," Will said, a look of admiration on his face. The genuine response took Yang aback somewhat; boys usually didn't take it very well when girls were stronger than them.

"Thanks," Yang replied, before clenching her fists and returning in kind. Will made the completely-logical mistake of trying to block her punch instead of doing what he did before and the resulting force knocked him clean out of the ring and through a rack of training swords.

The brawler winced when she saw that and she wasn't the only one; both Ruby as Russel audibly winced when Will broke not one, but three of the wooden swords.

Yang hadn't expected him to actually give in to her request like that. "Sorry. You alright?"

The instant he made contact with something solid, Will recovered from the blow and leapt back at the training ring, a smile playing on his lips instead of a grimace. "You're on," he challenged her.

There was a bleeding scratch on one of his arms, where a sharp piece of wood had penetrated the sleeve of his beacon uniform. Yang felt a pang of guilt when she spotted it; she had completely forgotten that the young Operative didn't have any Aura to protect him. With a start, she remembered what he had said about Aura monitoring and how an Aura monitor would be 'fun' with him.

"Are you sure?" Yang inquired, not wanting to strain him too far.

It didn't look like he even noticed it. "You aren't?"

"No, I…fine. If you want a challenge, I can _give_ you a challenge."

"Good." With that, Will launched himself at her, encouraging Yang to do the same. The two of them clashed in midair, limbs brushing against limbs as they attempted to gain leverage. Before Yang could bring her strength to bear, her partner slipped away from her grasp and pinned her arm on her back. It meant that, when gravity took a hold of them again, he was on top. And that meant that Yang slammed against the ground with enough force to shake the entire ring, with Will crawling over her like a tiger about to pounce.

It was a comparison that she could get behind.

"Nice one," a male voice rang out, prompting the blonde to start laughing.

"Is that all?" she asked the grey-eyed boy who pressing her against the ground by her chest.

"You're saying you want more?" he asked her.

Yang grabbed a hold of his wrist and effortlessly pushed him back, climbing back to her feet as she did. "I'm saying we're not done," she firmly said as she leered over him. "Not by a long shot." Not until _she_ said so.

"Alright…" Will performed an odd gesture with his wrist, smoothly freeing it from her iron clasp and retaliating with his other hand. He shifted his hips and gave a short cry as he struck her with an open palm strike, sending her stumbling backwards. Yang waved with her arms to try and regain her balance, but she was a tad too slow. Will's leg snapped out the next thing she knew, she had crashed through the machine that Cardin had been using, snapping bundled cables and breaking metal without effort.

The sheer impact of the force invigorated Yang, feeding the flame that burned deep within her body. She could feel her Semblance renewing her energy, strengthening her muscles. It was an amazing feeling and Will did not disappoint.

Yang chuckled and rose to her feet, heat washing from her body. Cardin groaned and smartly backed away. Like she was going to waste even a _second_ of her attention on him.

"Nice one," Yang exclaimed, slamming her fists together. Golden light trailed after her as she launched herself at the sparring ring once more, shattering the ground underneath her feet.

"You're being sadomasochistic," Will quietly told her as he dodged her two strikes, countering with a kick to her midsection.

Yang felt her cheeks stinging with a heat that had nothing to do with her internal fire. "I -you -shut up! I-it's my Semblance!"

"Sure," Will said with a smile that couldn't possibly _not_ be interpreted as teasing. "Your _Semblance."_

He was growing cocky! Where had he even _learnt_ that word? Fine. She might perform a Junior on him after all. Show him that sadomasochism could go _both_ ways.

"Yang!" Ruby squealed as the blonde nearly threw the ex-Operative through the nearest window, forcing him to grab a hold of the frame to prevent himself from being flung out of the gym. "Watch out!"

Several of the girls cried out in alarm as shards of glass and pieces of broken metal came crashing down on them.

"Will!" Ruby yelped as the soldier grappled with Yang and performed an intricate technique, throwing her against the bench press with enough force to break off half of the weights. "Watch out!"

Yang staggered upright, clutching her head. "Damnit, I liked that thing."

"Sorry," Will retorted from the sparring ring, plucking pieces of glass out of his clothes.

"Yeah? Well, you'll be sorry soon!"

As the brawler charged right back at the sparring ring, one of the girls turned towards Ruby and asked. "Does this usually happen when these two train?"

Yang managed to overhear Ruby say, "I think it's just sexual tension."

What was it with people knowing all these words all of a sudden? Did _everybody_ read Blake's pervy book?

Their sparring matched lasted for another five long, violent minutes, during which both team CRDL as the other team stopped whatever it was that they had been doing to watch. It was only when Yang charged at her partner again, fists clenched and intent on knocking him out of the ring altogether, that something happened that put a stop to their training. Without warning and without saying anything, Will lowered his arms and raised his head, glaring at something behind Yang.

The blonde had to hastily break off her attack to keep herself from knocking him off his feet or worse. She wasn't the type of person to take advantage of this. Whatever this was.

She turned around and looked over her shoulder, trying to spot what it was that the ex-Operative was leering at with such intensity in his gaze. Things didn't bother him like that, so what was all the fuss about?

"Hey," Yang said when she didn't see anything. "You alright?"

"What?" he weakly said, never taking his eyes off of whatever it was that pinned him to the ground.

Yang reached out and took a hold of his shoulder, softly shaking him back and forth. "I said, are you alright? What's gotten into you, you don't just surrender in the middle of a fight!"

"It's…" he tore his gaze away from the vacant spot in the gym and glanced at her for a moment, looking more shaken and disturbed than when he had last had a moment like this. "I'm sorry, I need to…"

Yup. He was definitely having another episode. What triggered those damn things?

"Hey, looks like the fight is over!" Ruby exclaimed, instantly appearing at Yang's side in a shower of rose petals. "I am _so_ proud of both of you! Got that out of your systems?"

"Yeah," Yang said, realizing what her younger sister was doing. "Sure. Good fight; I don't think the students in the Vytal Tournament will put up such a fight."

Will glanced back at that empty place in the air, but Yang quickly reached out and took his hand. Had they been alone, she would have gladly talked to him about just what it was that got to him like that. With an entire team of girls and an entire team of CRDL here though? Nope. Wasn't going to happen. "Come on. We've got another thing we need to be doing right now."

"Copy that," the ex-Operative replied, sounding suspiciously like he was merely replying to an order.

Not that Yang would have taken no for an answer.

Well, with Ruby off doing her own thing and Blake skulking around in the city, team RWBY's dorms were ripe for the taking. Where Weiss was though, Yang had no idea. When she sent the Heiress a message, asking her where she was, she received a 'polite' suggestion from her to mind her own business.

That was that, then. Nobody to disturb them, all the time in the world. Nice.

Yang left the shower and started getting undressed, unzipping her tan vest and dumping it on her bed.

"Are you certain we won't be disturbed?" Will asked, standing with his back to her for some senseless reason.

"Positive," Yang replied. A small part of her acknowledged that it would exciting, not knowing if they would be caught or not. Another part of her smacked that small part in the face, telling it that such thoughts were stupid and potentially dangerous. "Found something interesting on that wall?"

"I'm giving you privacy," Will replied without missing a beat. He was being so honest and so _naïve._ Prude, even. A prude child soldier. That was a new one.

"We're going to take a shower together," Yang told him, crossing her arms over her ample chest. "You can look. We're not children."

Will reluctantly turned around, staring at the floor instead of at her. Never would she have thought that a guy refusing to look at her 'gauntlets' would bother her, but here she was. With the first boy who _wasn't_ eager to get his eyes on the prize.

When he did look up after a few seconds of hesitation, his cheeks immediately flushed with a healthy blush. "You look pretty," he awkwardly said.

How flattering. "Thanks," Yang said with a smirk, before grabbing his hand and pulling him over to her bed. Man, she could basically _hear_ him thinking. He needed to cut loose and relax once in a while! Weiss could be uptight, but this was taking it to a whole new level. She reached for the underside of her yellow top and wondered if there was anything she could do to make this easier for both of them. "You look scared," she teasingly added, brushing a strand of blonde hair out of her face.

"Not too used to touching…" His reply was like a whisper; shy and hesitative. Just seeing him like that made Yang's heart beat harder, and she could feel her own body warming up even more in response.

Yang leant forwards and brought her face closer to his, nearly close enough to touch his lips with hers. "There's a lot of things you're not used to, are there?" she whispered back, moving her hands towards the underside of his shirt. She could feel his warm breath on her cheek as he gasped in surprise, and she playfully bit at his ear in response.

The resulting spastic fit nearly threw both of them off the bed. Yang couldn't prevent a cry of surprise from escaping her lips, and it looked like Will had startled _himself_ more than her. He had his eyes opened wide, and his chest was rising and falling rapidly. But there wasn't anything akin to real _fear_ on his face; just the surprise of nearly switching beds with her.

"Ah…" his blush grew deeper and he looked away, rubbing his neck like he did whenever he felt awkward. "Sorry…"

Yang growled quietly and pinned the boy underneath her body again, grabbing his arms a bit harder than before. It didn't change a thing in his expression though. "You need to stop apologizing," she sternly said. "It kills the mood."

He opened his mouth, visibly hesitated, and then closed it again. "Right." Yang couldn't but notice that he was subtly pulling with his arms, distracting her with his feeble attempts at resistance. She didn't quite feel the contorted muscles underneath his skin yet, so he wasn't actually struggling. Perhaps she needed to address that?

She leant down again and brought Will's hands to her hips, where her top met her skin. He seemed to need a _lot_ of prodding and nudging, but she was happy to oblige. "What, not interested in helping a lady out of her clothes?" she said with mock disdain.

"I –are you sure about this?" he carefully asked.

So much for playing nice. The consequences were now on him. Yang increased her grip again and pulled her top off, launching it somewhere into the room. They'd find it later. All that was left to take care off was her bra. Well, that and her panties, but she didn't want to cause him a heart-attack yet.

Finally, Will understood that he needed to do more than suppress a heart-attack. He got half-upright, pulling her with him, and wrapped his arms around her waist. His touch was soft and careful…a bit too much for so her tastes.

But it was a good start. One that needed to be rewarded. Before he could do anything else, she planted her lips firmly on his and tugged at his shirt-

The arms around her waist immediately pulled back, roughly so. He jerked away from her and covered up the naked patch of skin on his right side with his hands, unsuccessfully trying to hide the prominent scar on his flank.

"Oh," Yang muttered, realizing that this was a lot more complicated than she had initially thought. In her eagerness to finally have an intimate moment with someone she could trust and rely on, she had failed to realize that she was, in fact, taking advantage of a weakness. Will couldn't say no to her, or to anyone he liked for that matter. She had forgotten to keep in mind where he came from. Neglected and damaged. She had failed to keep that into mind. "Sorry."

It made for a bitter moment of self-reflecting. Why couldn't she keep a tighter lid on things?

But he just shook his head. "No, it's…just me being stupid. I can't get it into my head that you can see beyond…well, what you see." He paused. "That's a dumb way of putting it."

Yang wrapped her arms around her chest and averted her eyes. This…wasn't what she had expected. Had she messed this up? Was this her fault?

This time, she was the one who felt someone touch her. She looked up again, and saw that Will was reaching for her bare calf. "I trust you," he quietly said.

He didn't say anything else. He just let that statement hang in the air, with nothing else there. But the way he looked at her…the honest, careful smile on his face, finally reaching his eyes.

He didn't say anything else, because he didn't need to say anything else?

Her little soldier then leant towards her on his own, causing the bed to creak in response. He didn't quite meet her eyes, and he didn't actually do more than stroke her leg, but that was enough for her to understand what he meant. What he _wanted._

"I trust you too," Yang said, rubbing his hair. She didn't mess up, and neither did he. She understood what was happening, and what was important was that both of them felt _safe_. She pushed her legs out, away from under her body, and gently pulled Will with her. Once more with feeling. "And you're right. Probably. Let's not rush things now."

"No. But we do need to shower still."

It took Yang a few moments to figure out what he was talking about. When she did though, Will _felt_ it. "Well, come on then! Dump those pants and let's _go_!"

Those student uniforms were never made with this in mind. Perhaps after this was over, he would have to get a new one. Or just start wearing his own outfit again. She wouldn't mind seeing him in that black, skintight suit once more. That wouldn't happen right now though.

Now…now was different. Odd, weird, _different_. There were plenty of reasons why she hadn't messed around with boys in the past. Most couldn't handle girls who were taller, or stronger, or more muscled. Her occasional, emotional slip-ups hadn't helped either. Things had never really progressed beyond a date or a kiss but now…now she was nearly _nude_. She dropped her bra to the drenched ground of the shower room and opened the crane, allowing warm water to pour down on them.

Will had his arms around his chest as he stepped inside the shower-room, in a gesture that could be one last attempt to keep himself guarded and distanced from what was basically one of the biggest steps he had taken in his life so far. "It feels strange," he said.

As she longingly ran her eyes over his uncovered body, Yang could guess as to what he meant. "Ah, strange how?"

He looked down at the floor, rubbing his shoulder. "I've never seen someone without clothes before. I've…rarely ever been without clothes myself."

Yang stepped closer to him and wrapped her arms around his waist, pulling him against her body. His skin felt cold. "No…I meant, strange _how_. Strange bad…" she leant in closer, pressing her chest against him and resting her forehead against his. She could feel a slight shiver run through his body in response to her touch. "Or strange _good_."

She slowly moved her hand down the inside of his muscled thigh, electing a quiet moan from her sheltered little Operative. "Yes…"

"No," Yang breathed, brushing with her lips against his neck. "I want you to _tell_ me…" Her hand went for his head, gently pulling it back to further expose the sensitive area right above his collar bone. "How I make you feel."

Will moaned again, louder this time. "G-good," he hastily said, still badly flinching when Yang pressed her lips against his neck. "Ah…strange good."

Feeling him squirm in her arms made her body start to burn with desire, sending tingling sensations down her spine, all the way to her loins. Every movement he made, every sudden time he jerked or twitched only made that worse. She craved for him to touch her even though she had promised to take things slowly.

Yang spent the next twenty minutes exploring his body, hands running over limbs and muscles and scars, longing for his touch. Damnit, this was so _hard_! Having him in her arms, naked and wet, without being able to _do_ anything. The throbbing and aching made her feel _very_ glad that they were in the shower right now.

And she had that same effect on him, though the way his body responded was more…pronounced than hers. The shower didn't help much with that.

Yang lowered her head against his chest, pulling him against herself as if this were the last time they would be together. "The Tournament will begin soon," she whispered.

"I know." His body seemed to relax as he settled his thoughts. Finally, he gave in, accepting her embrace. "You'll be fighting in it."

"And you will be watching."

Will slowly exhaled and closed his eyes, water dripping down from his soaked hair. "I like watching you."

Oh, that little tease. Fine; after team RWBY's first victory, she was going to make him _beg._ But until that moment came, she would enjoy what they had.

* * *

 **City of Vale**

 **Commercial District**

 **Downtown**

A busy street like this, accidents had to be a part of the daily life. How else did these people expect to live in this place without having the eyes and ears to stay alive? Nobody watched each other, nobody even looked at someone approaching them -nobody looked like they even had to _worry_.

To Alice, living a life like bordered on suicide. It was waiting for someone to step up to you and shank you in your lungs. The people wandered down the street like they couldn't even look five steps ahead of themselves, constantly in danger of stepping on, in or against something. Most of the time each other -uncoordinated bunch of dull fucks. Human civilians. How they could even tolerate each other'presence was way beyond her; these people brushed by each other so closely that they could _touch._ Touch! The thought alone was enough to disturb her.

Normally, the Faunus population was better. Either because they had better senses or just because they had learned to watch out for the danger of the other people, but they seemed to be able to move without having to constantly avoid bumping into things. She liked that. They were sharper than humans, so didn't that mean they were better than humans?

Well, normally, they would be. If their children weren't so damn stupid. A little girl, not much older than eight or nine, blundering into the street, right as a van came driving around the corner. It didn't bother to look, it didn't bother to check, it just blindly threw itself onto the street, hoping that the entire world would adapt to her.

Of course the people around her wouldn't react in time. Their dull, peaceful and completely insignificant lives had dulled them so. Much. They couldn't even keep their own young under control; by the time anyone would notice, the girl would have already disappeared under the heavy wheels of the vehicle.

Such was the way of life. As Operative Mantis, she had seen so many children die. It wasn't anything new to her. Things like these just happened.

A familiar, warm feeling spread through her chest, like a bonfire that had been lit up in the middle of a cold night. All the colours and sounds and images of the world shifted, blurred and slowed to a crawl. The steady beat of her heart was all that she heard when she stepped on the road and grabbed the Faunus kid by the back of her shirt, hauling her away from the truck that was moving like it was suspended in water.

Slow. Everything and everyone was slow. Too slow, in fact. That was why people died. Because they weren't fast enough to survive. But that was alright; this way, she could truly feel alive. It was a feeling of burning euphoria every time she got to see the world like this. Her world, where the people were ghosts and she was a true person.

The ecstasy couldn't last. Time returned to its normal speed and the vehicle came to a screeching, grinding halt, its heavy wheels passing right through the spot where the kid would have been had she not stepped in.

Only when Alice let go of the Faunus child and stepped back did the people notice what had happened. Then came the familiar screaming and crying and adults rushing towards the little thing, checking to see if it was alright.

Bunch of blind, pathetic _maggots_. Crawling around without any purpose, without any _sense_. Always there to hunt her down, first in line to rape and judge and cast their _hatred_ , but when she could be _useful_ to them, they could tolerate her?

She snorted and walked away, leaving the occupied civvies behind her. Faunus could gather together and commit violence to get people to listen to them and they were _sad_. They were pitied and understood. But when they tried the same -when _her_ kind tried to get people to realize- suddenly there would be court-martials and threats of execution. And there would be the innocent, unblemished civilians crying for her death, and the deaths of so many others.

Yes, she knew she should be dead. A hundred times over. Good soldiers got fed, bad ones got hurt. Except she couldn't be a good one anymore, because _nothing_ was good. Things had changed, for the absolute worst. It was like she was stuck in a maze, where she couldn't find her damn way out again.

And she was already being followed. Spent two seconds saving some child and she was already being fucking stalked again.

Alice carefully glanced to her right, subtle enough that it wouldn't be recognized, but enough so that the nearest window betrayed the features of the one hunting her.

 _Blonde, glasses. Steady clicking of boots. Female._

Not here, where she could be seen. Deeper into the alleys. Private, sheltered.

Her feet made no sound as they carried her through the system of alleys with precision that had been honed to perfection. Being hunted was her life now. Every waking moment of every day, people were after her. She might as well excel at it. Not too fast, to keep the hunter on her trail. Not too slow, to avoid getting caught. A classic tactic; becoming the hunter herself. At her core, she was made to _hurt_. To brutalize and maim and slaughter.

Alice walked around the corner, counted three heartbeats and then pulled out the standard-issue pistol she had stolen from one of those Atlas soldiers.

Safety off. She rounded the corner, aligned the barrel of the weapon perfectly with the head of her stalker. Her finger twitched, eager to pull the trigger. Normally, she would have. Not now. _Patience_ , a friend had said. "Why are you following me?"

The woman scowled and crossed her arms. Bright green eyes holding a stern gaze, white upper clothes, black lower clothes. Not a soldier. Not a cop. Not a concombatant. Top of her right boot, a possible weapon concealed. Too low to effectively reach. She had the advantage,

"Your manners are abysmal," the woman said with what could only be understood as a reprimanding voice. "Put that thing down, young lady."

 _Young lady?_ Alice thought with astonishment. _Young lady?_ Nobody had ever called her _that_ before. Who was this woman?

Stunned by the completely foreign way of speaking, Alice slowly lowered her pistol. Not completely.

The middle-aged woman pushed her glasses a bit higher up her face and said, "Good. As for the reason why I appear to be following you: you keep running away. Now that I have found you though-"

"Shut it," Alice snapped, not knowing how else she would get something useful out of this unknown element. People always talked and talked and never _said_ anything. "Give me one reason why I should bother listening."

If at all possible, the woman's scowl grew even greater. She really looked like Sergeant Dusk when will had stolen his favorite gun, all those years back. "If you do not trust my words, you were foolish to allow me talk in the beginning."

Well, she had a point there. But Blake had said that she should try trusting people instead of avoiding them.

"And if I were you, I would refrain from speaking so rudely in the future, especially to your future teacher."

Her _what_?

The blonde woman continued. "Now then. My name is Glynda Goodwitch. I came here to extend an invitation to Beacon Academy. I can show-"

The second the woman moved, Alice trained the pistol at her head. "Don't move!"

'Glynda' stopped in the middle of reaching down her suit. There was only frustration in her eyes. No fear, no ill intent. Goodwitch was the name of some big-shot Professor at Beacon. Was this her?

"Your actions bear an…uncanny resemblance to Will's," she then spoke. Glancing at Alice with those sharp, green eyes. Alice stared back. "And I did not tolerate his behavior either. I will only tell you this once: please direct your hostility…somewhere _else_.

She sounded so exasperated. She had dealt with Will too? Had he trusted her?

"If you're not here to fight," the ex-Operative slowly said, thinking of a dozen different ways this conversation could work out, "then you won't mind taking this slow. What are you reaching for?"

"An invitation," Goodwitch replied. "Unless _now_ you are ready to take my word for this? Believe me Miss Alice, I have much better things to do with my time. If you are content to stay living on the streets, I will not stop you."

A piece of paper wasn't much better than someone's word. However, several things seemed to make sense. This woman knew her name. People didn't just know her name. Blake had been the only one.

And a place where she could sleep without the constant pressure of having to be vigilant sounded good. Very good. No rain, no hunger, sleep…but a _school_? She hadn't gone to school since she had been four. Students…teachers… _people_. Hundreds of them. That was not a place where she could be living.

"Beacon?" Alice asked, glancing at the weapon attached to the Professor's boot. "A school?"

"That is why they call it an Academy," Goodwitch remarked, slowly pulling a piece of paper out of her pocket. "And yes, you will have to behave as a student. You will be expected to attend to lessons, wear a uniform and act according to our rules."

Lessons? Behave as a student? Seriously?

But what choice did she have? She was tired of being alone. Tired of fighting and killing and running away.

Fucking Will. This had better be worth it.

Alice reluctantly took the Professor's invitation, glancing at the thin paper as if was going to come alive and attack her.

"Very well," the woman then said, lowering her arms. "My part ends here. If you want to talk, you can find Headmaster Ozpin."

Was that hesitation she heard? Was the powerful Glynda Goodwitch getting nervous? "I think I will do that," Alice replied, her mind struggling to process how she would even fit in in a school. "Thank you."

The Goodwitch didn't say anything else. True to her word, she turned around and walked away, leaving the ex-Operative to her thoughts.

* * *

" _The founder told me that the Catalysts would change their carriers. That they wouldn't remain our Operatives for the rest of their lives. I disagreed with him. Not vocally, but in my mind, I did. I hypothesized that the Catalysts would succumb to the same conditioning that we put the kids through. That the constant stress, pain and war in an alien mind would numb them, and break them._

 _I was wrong. I have always despised being wrong. I always tried to find ways to prove to my teachers that I was right and that they were wrong. I am never wrong. It bears repeating. I was wrong. I don't know what they did…that A-line of Catalysts…Attera and Ancilla changed things. Wrenched our Operatives away from us. Changed how they acted, how they behaved, even how they thought._

 _But it won't matter. Not many people know this, but the Implant is not absolute. Far from it. Within five years, the peak efficiency of the artificial coma will deteriorate to a point where we can't keep them dormant anymore. But within four years, the forcibly-joined souls will outgrow their minds. The one with the weaker, will fall apart on the level of the soul, succumbing to bouts of insanity and madness. The stronger one will die within minutes of the demise of the weaker one. That is, if they won't be killed by them first._

 _I was wrong. But in the end, that still doesn't change anything. And that means that I was right."_

Professor K. Greene, Head of Onyx' Neuroscience division


	10. Chapter 10

_This chapter contains an erotic scene. I will put up a warning above the POV that contains it so that people who don´t want to read it can skip, but why do that? We all love our WhiteRose ;)  
_

* * *

 **File: atlas involvement in Vale´s Arcadia-Luna incident.**

 **Summary of file**

 _Generals J. Ironwood and W. Ulysses are believed to have taken part in or be the cause of the escalation of the Arcadia-Luna conflict._

 **Report**

 _It is our believe that the vast array of advanced weapons used in the Arcadia-Luna conflict, unofficially dubbed the 'Death-war', did not originate from within the Kingdom of Vale. Neither Arcadia nor Luna were capable of producing or otherwise importing the various armoured vehicles, artillery installations and strike fighters that were utilized and subsequently destroyed in the escalating conflict._

 _-Furthermore, following analysis of the battlefield showed forty-three destroyed prototypes of Atlas' now patented Atlesian Paladins scattered around the DMZ. In addition, twelve-hundred and seventy-nine Atlesian Knights of the one-thirty line were salvaged from the mud_

 _On top of that, at least thirty-three percent of the personal firearms used during the conflict originated from Atlas._

 **Conclusion**

 _The findings prove that the Atlas military played a large role in the war. Additional evidence surrounding Atlas' motivations and diplomatic connections will soon follow, but from preliminary research, it would seem that the two top Generals were definitely involved in allowing the war to escalate._

 **Addendum**

" _As if Ironwood's connections to all these wars weren't bad enough. General Ulysses. Now there is a name I know and hate…"_

* * *

Yang sighed in satisfaction and crashed down on her bed, which creaked and groaned dangerously under the sudden weight. Her hair was damp, her skin still flustered, but she didn't care about that very much. She was happy. Genuinely so. "That was fun. But I don't think Remnant has ever had a guy and a girl take a shower before, where nothing happened."

Will was very fast, getting his clothes on again. She would have been somewhat suspicious about that, had he not been equally as fast getting dressed down. Perhaps it was a military thing. "I'm sorry. Next time."

With a grin, Yang said, "That a promise?"

"Promises can be broken. Consider this a fact."

Not the most romantic sentence he had ever uttered, but it was a start. "Good enough for me. Come sit down, would you?"

He joined her on top of her bed and she immediately wrapped her arms around his slim waist, pulling him right up against her, where he belonged. Just an hour left and then the very last lesson before the Tournament would start. It was odd that the last lesson they would take together was the one given by his sister. Well, self-exclaimed sister. It was a weird case and since neither Will nor Professor Seraphim were willing to just sit down and talk with each other, she wouldn't be getting involved with it.

"I will be leaving Vale soon," Will said after a few moments of warm, fussy silence. "No longer than a few days, after your fight."

Alarm shot through Yang and she got upright, prompting Will to do the same. "What? You're leaving? Where?"

Will tenderly reached for the side of her face, saying, "Listen, this is something that needs to happen. And I know you don't believe me…and that's alright."

Yang pulled away from him. She couldn't believe what she was hearing! After all that had happened, he was _still_ focused on going out there and playing vigilante? "No," she exclaimed, jumping to her feet and glaring at him. "That's not alright! Every time you go out there, things go wrong! People die, you get hurt, everyone gets off worse than before."

Will averted his eyes and looked down. He didn't get up like Yang had. "You went after your mother despite not knowing she was alive."

"That-"

Sharp, grey eyes met hers and this time, the dull emptiness that normally lay within them was gone. They were piercing, uncharacteristically so. "You went after her, ignoring that she might have been dead."

Yang gritted her teeth and tried to think of something that would prevent this from escalating. Unsuccessfully. "My mother didn't have official dossiers verifying her death!" she bit at him, failing to understand why her temper flared so easily lately. "There was every chance- "

"It's never that simple," Will replied. He stayed remarkably calm, despite Yang nearly shouting at him. It helped her stay focused somewhat, too. "You should know that."

Why couldn´t he understand? He had seen every possible side of the bitter aspects of life, he knew better than anyone else that dead was dead. "Will, stop this! You and Alice found that file yourselves, it's written down!" _Focus. Deep breaths, keep your voice down._ "She killed herself, Will." Speaking those words felt vile, wrong. Like she wasn't showing the respect that she ought to. But someone had to do it. And if wasn't her, who would? Who else would he listen to? "Onyx confirmed it."

"She didn't have anything to kill herself with," Will quietly replied. Reluctantly, it seemed. "She didn't have a body."

Yang blinked. "Wait, what did you just say?"

Despite knowing that this had to be another part of his delusions, despite _herself_ , Yang couldn't help but feel intrigued. This was the first time he had ever went into details about his late partner. Hell, he had never even told them he had ever been partnered up at all. Everything he had ever done, he had done alone. Or at least, that was what everybody had believed. Teachers included

"It's complicated. Very complicated. She doesn't want people to know, either. I think she trusts you."

Yang blinked again. "You…are going to have to explain that to me."

Will laid back on her bed with his back to the wall, crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "Onyx exists to prove the impossible possible. The things they've done…few would believe it. It's…important to me that you believe. Me. Her."

Yang grunted and sat back down as well, her anger having completely turned around with confusion, and sheer surprise at the turn this conversation had taken. From snuggling to insults to…this. "What do I need to believe?"

He didn't open his eyes as he replied. "They took her soul. And Bonded it to mine."

That…he was… _what_? "I…her Aura?"

"Her soul, her consciousness, her Aura, everything. They took her soul and Bonded it to mine."

Bonding was this ancient, spiritual ritual in which two people who were as close to each other as possible opened up their Aura to each other. It was _not_ something that could be forced! Unless…had Onyx gone so far? Defile one of the most sacred, important aspects of human culture and history for their own goals? "What does that mean?" She asked. She hated how soft her voice sounded all of a sudden.

"There are gaps in our memory. The first months are…blurry at best. It means…it means that they fused her soul with mine, linked her _mind_ with _mine_."

They did what? "Onyx forced the mind of a girl into your head?" Yang asked, disgusted. That was _wrong_. No, it was more than that. It was atrocious. Appalling. Yang couldn't imagine having to share her head with someone else. She would have gone nuts the first day. "When? Why?"

Will shakily exhaled, sounding like he was close to tearing up. "When? They stole her away from her home, when she was barely fifteen. Younger than Ruby."

 _Shit._ This wasn't made up. Whatever this was, Will was not making this up. People didn't just come up with atrocities like these. "That's…this is...how old were _you?"_

He shook his head, before pushing his face into the sheets. Then, he groaned. It was a horrible, completely uncharacteristic sound that sounded more like a scream of pain than anything else. `Four years together…one year of silence and…Yang?" His eyes shot open suddenly and he glanced at her with a look that could only be described as confusion and pain. "Does talking about your mother hurt you?"

The abrupt change of subject took Yang aback, but she didn't allow that to last lost. "It used to. But knowing that she's out there, somewhere…I feel like that makes it better." She paused, thinking about what he had just told her. Four years together, one of silence…four years Bonded, one year on his own. How had that happened? Wait…" Will, is she…you said you found her again. Is she here? Is she with you right now?"

She wanted to reach out and touch him. Regain that fleeting moment they had shared together. But in a way, this was probably just as important. She wanted to be with him, yes, but above all she wanted to _understand_ him.

Will groaned again, softer this time. "She...things fell apart inside my head, week after week. I still have nightmares about the things I've been through. But she…she _tries_ to make things better, and…"

"And?" Yang urged him on, her heart beating faster than when she had been sparring with him.

"She remembers so _little_. The things she recalls…it's like a festering wound, poisoning your whole body. She's still trying to come to terms with recent ones."

"But is she here? Here with you?" And if so, how long had she been there? How many days, neglected and ignored? After everything that had happened to him -to them- was it possible that the girl was still sane?

Will glanced up at the ceiling, sighing as he did. Was Yang just imagining it, or did his eyes look different? Little pinpricks of green in his left eye, blue in the right. Was it the light? Aura?

"Yes."

 _Oh._

After Ruby and I stabbed each other…I found the facility where they had trapped her soul, after she…after…" he stopped himself from talking, one of his hands going for the scar that Yang knew covered his side. "Yes, she is."

This time it was Yang who reached for Will's face. Not just his though. Apparently, right now, it also belonged to someone else.

Man, that thought was freaky! Freaky and messed up. Yeah, messed up, that was what this was. Fifteen years old? Onyx had stolen a girl younger than Ruby was, away from her family, to be forcefully soul-bonded to a child soldier she hadn't even known? There were many lines in life that should not ever be crossed. This one? It was beyond cruel. A line that wasn't even supposed to exist. Which sick bastard had come up with this?

And how the hell had Will put up with a life that that? How had she?

"What is your name?" Yang whispered, crossing the border that she was sure nobody had ever crossed before. It was so bizarre…and she wasn't even sure if she should believe this. But it took a sick, twisted mind to even think of a scenario like this. Will wasn't like that. So…it had to be true.

Will touched her hand with two fingers, his eyes widening in surprise and, this time, genuine relief. He opened his mouth to say something, seemed to think better of it and closed it again. Then…" Ancilla."

 _Ancilla._ The name had something odd to it. Something uncanny, that Yang couldn't quite place. It sure wasn't a normal name.

This was all just so much to take in. One moment she thought she had worked everything out and the next thing she knew, everything had been thrown upside-down again. Four years…four freaking years. Dozens of questions popped up in her head, each one more brash than the other. It took her a few moments to even figure out what the hell it was that she was _feeling_ right now.

"She's not…not awake right now," he then told her. "Look…I know this is a lot to take in. I wish I could tell you everything…I really do, but-"

It sounded like he was about to run aground with his words, so Yang stopped him. "Will, look me in my eyes, please?"

There was significant hesitation on his part. Noticeable so. But in the end, grey met lilac and Yang decided to take the last step towards making up her mind about this. "Are you being honest with me?"

"I-"

"Are you completely, hundred percent certain about this?"

Will's answer came so rapid that he very nearly cut her off. "I am. I can't prove it. Not yet. But Alice believes me too."

Yang sighed in exasperation and bumped her forehead against his. Which felt remarkably hot. "You have no idea how complicated this makes things." He sounded so _certain_ , so _confident_ that this was real, that it was hard for her to doubt him. How could she, with what was basically a horror story? It explained a whole damn lot about him, but it opened up so much more problems than it caused that she just didn't know how to feel about this. "You've got a girl living inside your head."

"I…yes, I do. And I've spent my _life_ fighting for her, fighting to get her life back."

Fighting. He was going to leave Vale soon, again. For this?

That explained a lot. Who wouldn't risk their life for this? "What do you mean?"

He gritted his teeth and broke the eye-contact that had been lingering, as if to hide the wetness that glistered in his eyes. "I made her a promise, Yang. All those years ago, I promised her that I would save her. That I would set her free, return her life to her. And I failed."

"Will, you-"

"I wasn't strong enough, not skilled enough. I told her that I would take care of her and I _failed_ her!"

 _Oh, you moron._ Yang reached out and pulled him in a hug once more, tightly wrapping her arms around his waist and closing her eyes. He had never been at the top of her most huggable persons in life. He was bony, hated to be touched by anyone and often responded to attempts at affection with ingrained violence. Perhaps that was why she couldn't resist touching him. "You're such an idiot."

"What?"

"You were what, thirteen when they forced you two together? Younger? Did you honestly think a kid could fight an entire military organization on his own?" Actually, it was pretty much like him to think such a thing. "It seems like an impossibly-long shot to me. At least, on your own."

"I can't take anyone with me. I don't trust -I mean, I can't- people don't get this, Yang. And I don't _want_ them to get it. I won't involve anyone with this."

Stubborn. To stubborn for his own health. It reminded Yang of herself. She couldn't imagine team RWBY going off to raid an Onyx facility, or anyone involved with Beacon for that matter. It would involve fighting in desperate, kill-or-be-killed situations that nobody was ready for. He had a point. She hated that. "You said Alice knows."

She let go of him and he sank back on the bed again, staring. "I did."

"So…why not involve her?"

His eyes widened and hen sharply inhaled, much to Yang's amusement. "I can involve Alice. She'd jump at the first call against Onyx."

Yeah, that, plus Alice could probably kick more ass than teams JNPR and LACG combined. Barring team RWBY, of course. "There you go." He probably wouldn't be telling her any of the actual details surrounding this crime against humanity, but that would come. With time. Patience was a virtue, after all. Too bad she didn't possess too much of that. "Just promise me one thing, alright?"

He blinked. "Sure."

"Just come back in one piece."

"Always."

Yang shook her head and leant against him again. If this was really a thing, he had someone living inside of his head. A girl. That meant that, even now, the two of them weren't alone. Not really.

Did she have to share him? With another girl?

...she wasn't sure if she wanted that.

* * *

 **One hour later -Combat Trials Module- Beacon Cliffs**

"Alright team RWBY!" Ruby Rose exclaimed as the rest of the first-year students slowly gathered at the cliffs looking over the Emerald Forest, ignoring the somewhat annoyed look that the teacher shot at her direction. "One last exercise to repeat what we've been through. Remember your codes, remember your moves."

"Ruby, would you relax?" Weiss told her with a hint of amusement. "We've been through this six times now. We can handle one last lesson."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Yang commented. "Who knows what the teachers got planned for us this afternoon. It might actually be a challenge."

Blake sighed. "Just because you are immune to fire, Yang, doesn't mean that the rest of us are."

"Right," Ruby agreed. "And we don't want a repeat of last time."

"Fine."

Hmm…it wasn't like Yang to give that point up so easily. It was a bit…off? Yang certainly didn't look like her normal self.

Jaune and Lisa took their respective teams right to the edge as well, right next to team CRDL and Will. Ruby peered over the shoulder of her older sister and was surprised to see that Lisa and Cardin were actually having a decent conversation together. Well, decent for them. Well, decent for the Adamant.

"And that´s how I killed my very first Grimm. Matt tried to remove its skull and place it on my wall later."

"But Grimm evaporate," Cardin replied, retaining more of his cocky manner when interacting with Lisa than when he interacted with…pretty much everyone else. "How did he do that?"

At the very least, he looked more confident than normal, what with the way he leant on his mace and all. He was even staring off into the horizon, as if keeping watch. It helped that all the people who could beat the confidence off his face were standing far away. Or he was just glad to be able to work with his team in the field again.

Or maybe she was looking too far into it.

"He keeps forgetting that," Lisa said. "He cut the head off and it just crumbled away in his hands. You should have seen his face man. It was all like, 'how could this happen to me?'. The rest of the grenades exploding right after that didn't make matters better."

Professor Seraphim looked like she was still preparing things that didn't really go her way. She kept manhandling her Scroll like it had insulted her entire family and every now and then, her Faunus ears would twitch in the same funny gesture of agitation that Blake always showed whenever she got upset about something.

In the end, the Professor simply threw her Scroll over her shoulder and scraped her throat. "Alright buttercups, attention here please. Since this is your last lesson before you're going to defend Beacon's honour against the other Kingdoms, I've rigged up something special. Miss Valkyrie, if you don't pay attention I will punt you down that cliff. Good."

Yup. That was Professor Seraphim. She had served in the army as a commando before signing up as a teacher at Beacon, a bit like Sergeant-Professor Johnson. But then with more Faunus-bits, less massive cigars and much less shouting.

The Professor crossed her arms. "To make this more interesting to some of you, you may consider this lesson a game. Whoever-"

She broke off halfway her explanation to look over her shoulder, at the trees behind them. There was someone approaching the cliffs on their own, with no team or visible Professor credentials. Odd. The only person who would need to be here without a team was Will, and he couldn't be walking there, because he was already standing right next to Yang. The only place he seemed to want to stand next to lately.

"Right," the Professor said with that same half-bored tone she had been using throughout the rest of her explanation. Since the reveal surrounding Onyx's child soldiers, she had been awfully timid lately. Ruby wished she didn't know why. "The new student?"

"Yes ma'am," the girl replied with a sharp tone. She had an athletic built, but she also looked somewhat malnourished. One side of her hair had been shaven to a buzz cut, but she had a cut of shoulder-length, dark-tinted hair on the other half.

"Wait," Ruby muttered, taking a closer look at the girl. She was almost certain that she knew her. "Is that…?"

"That's Alice!" Blake said, sounding happier than she had sounded in days.

"What's she doing here?" Weiss demanded, crossing her arms. Why was she so suspicious? It wasn't like Alice had ever done anything to harm them. At least, not that Ruby knew.

"Wanna introduce yourself?" Professor Seraphim asked.

Alice took one look at the assorted teams, most of whom she had fought alongside with during their skirmish with Operative Blackwood in the North, before saying, "No ma'am."

"Suit yourself. Now then, you may all consider this lesson a game. Whichever team brings back the most trophies, wins two dinner-coupons a person for the various stands that will be placed in the city during the festival."

Now that got their attention alright. Various students suddenly stood straighter and looked sharper, driven by the prospect of free food and other fun items. Ruby had no idea what sort of stands would be built during the festival, but free coupons were never a bad thing.

Alice covertly took a place right next to Will, who greeted her with a curt nod. It was good to see those two at good terms again.

"As for the trophies…I took the liberty of attaching them to the various forms of Grimm that inhabit the Emerald Forest. You have three hours."

Of course, there was the catch. Find Grimm, kill them, take the trophy without damaging it during the fight. Alright then, seemed doable.

As the Professor walked towards the edge of the cliff to point out where they would, Lisa glanced at Ruby with a nasty-looking smirk on her face. She pointed at her, then pumped her fist against the flat of her hand.

Ruby huffed. She was _not_ going to have team LACG beating her here. She had a reputation to keep up, after all!

"Everyone get ready," the teacher called.

Will and Alice took their place right beside Ruby and started on what had to be the most out of character conversation she had ever heard them engage in.

"So it's another hunt?" Alice asked Will, who shrugged.

"At least it's not people this time."

What now?

"True. These kids still don't stand a chance though."

 _What now?_ She was standing right there!

"It's probably unfair if either of us wins this."

"We could go easy."

"Or we could challenge each other."

Alice flashed him a subtle smirk. "Are you thinking of bag 'em and tag 'em?"

Will returned her smirk, even more subtly. "First one to bring a trophy back wins?"

"Sounds fine by me. Time limit?"

They were challenging each other to a challenge within a challenge? Since when did they do such things? It was an amazing thing, to see them just enjoy themselves, but where had they gotten the idea to do that?

"If you all remember your landing strategy from the initiation, getting down there won't be a problem," Professor Seraphim ultimately said. "Get ready…"

Jaune raised his hand. "Ma'am?"

"Three…"

"Miss?"

"Two…"

"Could you explain the definition of landing strategy?"

"One."

The second she reached one, Will and Alice simultaneously leaped off the cliff into the forest below. Ruby, who was having some serious flashbacks to the last time they had to deploy a landing strategy on these cliffs, anxiously awaited the moment that the floor would give away underneath her feet, or launch her dozens of meters into the air. She was ready. So ready. And this time, Weiss wouldn't hate her, because Weiss adored her now.

For some reason, nothing happened. Nobody got launched violently in the air, nobody got dumped over the edge of the cliffs. Weird.

There was a brief pause before the Professor, seemingly fed up with the lack of response, sighed in a frustrated manner and barked, "What are you lot waiting for? Jump!"

Ah, like that. Alright then.

"Seriously?" Jaune said as Pyrrha placed a hand on his shoulder, who looked over the edge. "Jump? You've got to be kidding meeeeeeeeeeeeee-"

Not even a second after Pyrrha pulled her partner over the edge of the cliff with her, Ruby jumped as well, soon to be followed by the rest of her team. The grassy cliffs above the Emerald Forest disappeared behind her as the wind took her, tugging at her clothes and howling through her hair. It was an amazing feeling to feel gravity lurch in her stomach, to be free of the ground and, even for a brief moment, free of stupid things like consequences. But too soon the new ground appeared in front of her, forcing her to repeat the same trick as during the Initiation. With a new spin, of course. A spin that sent her directly on top of an unfortunate little Beowolf, slicing its head off without missing a beat, before her boots could even hit the ground.

"Alright team RWBY!" she exclaimed after the rest of her team landed behind, next to and around her. All in one piece of course. "This should be a walk in the forest. Yang, you and Blake head to the…ehm, the left. Weiss and I will take the right."

"Our winning plan is to split up?" Blake asked.

"Yup," Ruby said with as much conviction as she could muster.

Blake waited a beat. "Alright. See you two soon then."

Excellent. "Good luck."

When Yang and Blake wandered off towards their direction, no doubt wondering what it was that Ruby had planned, Weiss showed that she was thinking the exact same thing. "Alright, what are you really thinking?" She demanded, placing her hands on her smooth hips. "One last lesson won't be much help."

Clever Weiss. "It really is one last exercise," Ruby said with a smile. "A bonding exercise. Tomorrow is our fight, Weiss. This is the best way to prepare."

"That is…actually pretty clever. Good idea."

Ruby loved it when Weiss gave her compliments. "Thank you." Blake and Yang could now really make use of their time to have a good talk together about what had happened, hopefully taking away at least some of the guilt. "I have my moments," she proudly replied. She took a look around, glancing at the now-familiar trees and bushes. It felt like ages ago, but it had just been a few months since she had passed the initiation. Oh well. "actually, there is something I want to talk with you about, too."

"Oh?" Weiss said. "That sounds…moderately serious."

"Yeah…I guess it is." She turned towards a random section of the Emerald forest and said, "Do you remember our talk on the terrace? Before we got word that Coco's team failed to stop Will?"

"Of course. How could I forget a conversation like that?"

Good. "Well…I want to try the Bonding. Not now, but eventually." Ruby had been known to rattle off when she couldn't focus, she to prevent that from happening at an important time like now, she simply kept her mouth closed. It had sounded so much better in her head…was this the best time to bring that up? Or had she just blown team RWBY's chances to win out of the water? Or was into the water…

Instead of being turned off by the idea, or just plain shocked, Weiss actually looked like she was considering it. "Ruby…you do remember what is required for a Bonding process? Why it isn't done anymore?"

Oh, she remembered very clearly. In fact, she had had the occasional daydream about it. Weiss didn't need to know that. "I know. And honestly, I don't think using the herbs and the meditations will work. That leaves us with but one alternative."

Weiss chuckled. A lovely sound, one that Ruby couldn't hear often enough. "You little red rascal…I wonder though. are you prepared for the burden? Constantly being aware of my feelings, my physical wellbeing? Feel everything that I feel? What if I get hurt? Could you still lead our team then?"

IF she put it like that, it was a big risk. And Ruby didn't want to have Weiss go through the same pain that she does if she gets wounded. "It's a big risk," she replied, thinking about what doctor Oobleck had told her about the tradition. "But…the benefits? Not just for us, but for the future. For the fights that have yet to come. We could fight so much more efficiently, so much _better_! Think back on all the fights we've been through." And those were a lot. "I think it will only get harder."

"I can certainly see the benefits of a Bond…but Ruby, my point still stands. I wouldn't mind sharing my feelings with you…I don't particularly care much for privacy. But if either of us gets hurt, the other won't be able to deal with that. And I _know_ that I can't keep focusing, knowing that you are hurt, let alone _feeling_ every moment of your pain. That's too dangerous, for our entire team."

"Unless we learn how to block that out," Ruby suggested.

Weiss cast her an odd look. "What?"

"I think professor Adamant knows more about this than he told us. More than Oobleck knows. If there is a way to train this, a way to learn and use this-"

" _If-"_ Weiss interrupted her. "-if there is a way to train it, and overcome the problems that such a Bond would bring with it…then yes, I would be willing. But-"

No buts. Weiss didn't get enough time to finish her but. Ruby flung her arms around her shoulders and the two of them crashed to the leafy ground. The thick pack of leaves and grass underneath their bodies broke their fall, but still Weiss didn't get enough time to speak, as Ruby pressed her lips against hers and cut off her breath.

Weiss only resisted for a few moments before she wrapped her arms around Ruby´s waist in return. Then, she pulled away. "Oh Weiss! Don't worry, I'll ask Professors Adamants and Oobleck about what to do in case such bad things happen and then we can prepare and make everything alright!"

"Oh, hush you!" Weiss said, smiling. "Bonding later. Now, we have Grimm to hunt down."

That they had. Because, as it turned out, Professor Seraphim had jammed her trophies on about each and every Grimm she came across. Ruby and Weiss could hear the sounds of a small war going on deeper into the Emerald forest, but they were busy enough trying to get their own battles over with without accidentally destroying their objectives.

"Weiss," Ruby exclaimed in mock horror as the Heiress immolated a larger Ursa with a gesture of her rapier. "You destroyed the trophy!"

"Gee," Weiss replied, "how unfortunate. If only there had been a way to preserve it."

"Yeah, but…I don't think it counts if we bring in molten pieces of metal."

The Heiress rolled with her eyes. "Are you really that concerned about the reward? I thought this was about having a good time?"

"It is! But Yang is really competitive, and I didn't think you wanted LACG to win another hunting assignment." Ruby took a brief pause, recalling the previous times that Lisa's team had bested hers in these lessons. "Again."

"I don't particularly care for team LACG. I just want everybody to be focused for our fight, tomorrow."

Ruby sighed. "I know, I know. Winning this thing is just a feel-good-thingie. You're lying about LACG, though."

Weiss crossed her arms and looked away. "Stop doing that!"

"Doing what?"

"Interpreting things! It's impolite."

Ruby scratched her neck, wondering what was impolite about reading people's faces. "Well, you and Lisa never quite made up. When Grace and I talked, I sort of assumed that you were so angry with Lisa because you don't have siblings, and she kept complaining about hers."

"That was before I found out what her family was like. As I said, it was a…stressful period. Lisa and I can tolerate each other and that's good enough."

That was true, Weiss had been experiencing a myriad of not-so-pleasant moments at Beacon back then. At least that was all over now. "Sorry for bringing it up, but I was sort of wondering. What is your sister like, if you would rather have people believe you didn't have siblings?"

Weiss made a sound that sounded like a groan, kind of, but also like a sigh. "Winter is…different."

"Different like...Professor Adamant different?"

Weiss looked at the ground and her shoulders sagged somewhat. "No…not really. I think they are about the opposite of each other. Matt is all about breaking regulations and behaving odd and being the black sheep of his family, according to Lisa. Winter is…well, she joined the Atlas military as soon as it was legal for her to do so."

"So very different from Professor Adamant different?"

The Heiress sighed and leant against one of the trees, sheathing the newly-repaired Myrtenaster. "It's not like we didn't get along. It's just that…she was always so fond of discipline and regulations. Insisted that we kept our rooms in perfect condition, together with…other things."

"That doesn't like good."

"It's not. You know my father is not a pleasant man. He expected perfect obedience from both of us, at all times. And he turned even more unpleasant when we didn't _show_ that obedience."

Ruby nervously sat down as well. Ever since Weiss had told her that the White Fang's actions against the Schnee Dust Company had made her life very difficult, there had been this sneaking suspicion that Mister Schnee wasn't really good at keeping his hands to himself. And Weiss wasn't doing anything to make that thought go away.

"That must have been ugly when you wanted to go to Beacon instead of their Atlas school."

Weiss kept staring at the ground as she gave her reply. "It was. Winter always said that she wanted to serve, but I know she just wanted to escape father. When I told him I wanted to leave as well, he became…really upset."

"But you didn't let that stop you," Ruby pointed out.

"No."

"And here you are, at Beacon. Far away from the Company."

Weiss' blue eyes peered up from underneath the white bangs of hair and met Ruby's. "Until the General arrives. He already brought half his fleet protecting this station."

"But…the Atlas military is big. What are the odds of your sister being-"

"Last time I heard of her, she became Ironwood´s personal guard."

Well, there went her point, up in flames.

But Weiss smiled. "It's been a while since I last saw her. I wonder how she's doing?"

Ruby smiled as well and the next second, she was hanging around Weiss' shoulders, pressing her lips against the Heiress'. There was only a brief moment of resistance before Weiss gave in, wrapping her arms around Ruby's waist and softly leaning against her.

"Thank you," Weiss then whispered.

"For what?" Ruby replied with surprise.

"Just...being here. Being you."

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

Their moment together didn't last long. The three hours were just too short, and when Yang called her on her Scroll to alert her that their time was almost done, it felt like it had only been a few minutes.

It didn't matter. When team RWBY won their fight, Weiss and her would be spending some quality time together. Celebrations in _style._

"That's over sooner than I expected," Professor Seraphim said when all the teams had returned to the cliff, some looking worse off than others. Team LACG was mostly fine, though Cho looked somewhat singed. Again. Friendly fire? Unfriendly fire?

Flamethrower-assisted fire?

Ruby shot a glance at the two Operatives sitting next to each other and wondered which one had scored the first kill on their little bet. Considering their skillset, it might be a little bit unfair if they joined forces together. Giving themselves handicaps to make these lessons more interesting was actually a clever idea in that case.

But why was Alice here as well? Since when was she a student here? With all these fighters walking around on campus, that was like an accident waiting to happen.

The teacher scraped her throat, instantly silencing what little chatter was going on. "Anyone wounded? No? Good. Leaders, how many trophies?"

Ruby scraped her throat. "Thirteen!" Of which at least ten had been won by Yang and Blake. Weiss and her had been busy with other things.

At that, Jaune groaned and hung his head. `Eleven…`

 _Nice._

And at that, Lisa exclaimed a loud ´Hah!´ and pumped her fist in the air. "Nineteen! Suck on that!"

Cardin just shook his head and sat down, not even bothering to tell his score after that. It shouldn't have come as a surprise; team LACG was very competitive, and two of their teammembers were completely specialized in recon and scouting.

Also, they were cheaters. Alessa had a special ability that allowed her to 'project' her Aura in a massive radius and 'see' everything in it. Through her blindfold -which hid the result of an unofficial Onyx experiment from ten years ago. They were destined to win those food coupons.

"Laugh all you want Adamant!" Jaune then challenged her. "Hunting things down won't help you win a fight in the tournament!"

Wow, Lisa wasn't the only one who took this challenge seriously.

"Silly Jaune," the Adamant then replied, complete with an evil laugh. "We have a secret plan to win the tournament! It involves extreme skill."

"Good luck finding that then!" Nora butted in.

"Oh don't worry; we are good at hunting things down."

Ouch.

"I hope that the matter of these teams facing each other is a matter of when, not if," Professor Seraphim interrupted. "So unless one of you has the nerve to lose against opposing Kingdoms, we can continue this discussion later."

Nora, Jaune and Lisa fell silent after that. With everybody safe and sound, there was no reason to linger on the cliffs for much longer. They had the rest of the day off to prepare for the coming fight. Said preparation consisted mostly out of hanging out in the city and laughing at each other's silly stories and experiences, killing time for the real deal to begin.

The fight was on Ruby's mind every moment of the day. She constantly tried to suppress the nerves she felt by focusing on something else, but that was a difficult thing to do.

But at least there was one thing that she could do. She wanted to visit her mother´s grave one final time, before the fight would start, to tell her about all the crazy things that she had seen and done.

So Ruby got up early that morning to meet up with her dad. Of course, she had to make sure that she didn't wake her friends up. Yang understood, and Weiss knew, but Blake didn't really know yet. None of them had to be disturbed by her leaving early, anyway.

Dad was silent, looking solemnly ahead while the two of them made their way to the cliff. He was visiting Vale for a mission, but he would leave before the Tournament even started. "I'll give you two some privacy," he eventually said, just before the clearing. "I'll show Zwei around." He smiled warmly at Ruby, before adding, "take your time."

Ruby smiled back at him and threw her arms around his waist. No need for words, when a gesture meant so much more, right?

So when her father left with Zwei -the little corgi giving a small bark before going with him- Ruby lowered her red hood and walked towards the grave, but she didn't get more than a few steps before she saw that she was not alone this morning. For a split-second she thought it was uncle Qrow kneeling in front of the grave, but then she realized that Qrow wasn't even in Vale and that this man didn't look like Qrow. No cape, for starters. Less red, more black.

Also, a black helmet lay on the grass beside him.

The man didn't look up as Ruby approached him, even though the sound of her footsteps should have warned him of her being there. And that helmet was definitely Onyx.

A bad feeling rose up in Ruby's stomach and she wished that she had taken Crescent Rose with her. But to take her scythe to her mother's burial site…it felt wrong. Not as wrong as a complete stranger paying his respects to the tombstone though. Who was he? No, why was he here?

"Ehm…" Ruby started. "Sir?"

Now she had his attention. He rose to his feet and turned around, presenting Ruby with a very familiar face.

"Mister Yale?" she yelped, surprised at how much older the Onyx Commander looked. When he had first come to Beacon, negotiating the terms of Onyx' support to Beacon, he had looked only a few years older than Ozpin and Qrow. Now, it looked like he was ten years older.

But why was he here? The last time he had been at Beacon was right before the Breach incident. After that he had just…well, sort of disappeared.

His hard features softened when he smiled at her. A rare sight, as she had never seen him with anything but a stoic, hardened expression on his face. "Good morning, Miss Rose."

"You're back," Ruby awkwardly replied. She hadn't had a lot of conversations with him, but this was still the man who commanded the soldiers that Onyx deployed around the city of Vale. The child soldiers that Onyx deployed. "We were wondering where you went." Her eyes traveled past the grizzled old man at her mother's tombstone, and she couldn't help but wonder why this man who, by his own claim, only showed up at the most violent warzones, would want to go here.

"You're wondering how I knew your mother?" Apparently, Ruby wasn't the only one who liked to pay attention to people's faces. Yale gave her a smile that looked like a grimace.

"Actually…yes, I am," Ruby reluctantly said. "You told me you knew her…but you never mentioned how. Or when."

"Hmm...your mother was very dear to me, Miss Rose. She was the kindest soul I ever met. When I joined Onyx…when I was _recruited_ by Onyx, she taught me something I never forgot. Something the other officers seemed to lack." He paused. "Still lack, nowadays."

Ruby didn't want to insist or hurt his privacy or anything like that, but there were so little people who actually knew Summer that she couldn't help herself. Stories from dad and Qrow were always heartwarming to hear, but here was someone who dealt with death and war on a daily basis, still agreeing on the kindness of her mother. It was a rare thing, and she wanted to savor every moment of it. "What did she teach you?"

Yale reached for his helmet and clicked it onto his belt, taking his eyes off Ruby's. "You are the leader of your team, aren't you, Miss Rose? A word of advice. In situations where lives are in the balance, listening to your heart is a terrible thing to do. It can get other people killed, and no leader wants to go through that. But she taught me that some situations are worth listening to your heart for. She told me that recognizing that when the moment comes, makes the difference between good leaders and great leaders."

Listen to your heart...that sounded awfully close to what she always told Will and Cal. "What situations?" She quietly asked.

Commander Yale took a deep breath and then lowered his head, so that he could stare at the ground instead of at anything else. Anything Rose, Ruby supposed. "I don't know. I never encountered such a situation before."

He never encountered a situation where listening to his heart had been the best option? His life as a leader must be pretty tough.

"Well then, I should let you go," he said after a moment of awkward silence. He crossed his wrists behind his back and straightened up. "I will be returning to Beacon. Could you pass a message to your Headmaster, the next time you see him?"

Ruby nodded, despite knowing that nothing good could come out of this if she did. "Sure."

"Good. Tell him that General Eventide knows."

Cocking her head to the side, Ruby asked, "Knows what? Sir?"

"Just tell him those exact words, Miss Rose. I will address the matter later on, personally."

"Ehm…sure. Yeah, sure."

"Good. Thank you. Good luck in your battle today, Miss Rose."

And with that, the Commander walked off, still with his wrists crossed behind his back. Ruby scratched her ear, wondering what that was all about. How did her mom know Onyx? Or had that been before Yale had been recruited? Awfully specific, too. Recruited like Will and Alice had been recruited?

She supposed there was no use worrying about it. After all, she had come here for a reason.

Said reason lay behind her, where the old words that had been carved into the stone were still as visible as ever. Stone was a lot like memories then, she supposed. How long ago had it been since she had last seen her bright, white cloak? Her large, silver eyes, filled with motherly love and warmth?

And where did she even start? "Hey mom… I…I made it to Beacon. Did I tell you that?" Something was in the way of her voice. Like a painful lump, making it difficult to speak through the tears that always came when she visited. "And I'm not alone. I…I've got a team, too. Things have been…really strange. Bad, good, odd, terrible…oh, and a friend of yours came to visit you today. Just before me, actually. His name is-" Ruby halted. Was Yale his real name? "Well, he calls himself Yale. He's with Onyx…do you know Onyx? I don't even know if you did…"

Ruby paused, wondering what she should say. Knowing her mother…probably just the truth. "Yeah…Onyx is strange." A specific subject like that was better to talk about. It kept her distracted. "They're good guys who do terrible things…or bad guys who do good things. A complicated military organization that keeps the peace using these extreme methods and…" Ruby sighed. "You would have handled this so much better. They use child soldiers to fight in horrible wars, but I befriended some of them. They're friends too. I still have nightmares about pieces of their past, but they are friends. And with Yang on my team, I really think I can help them. Yang is such a great help…but so are Blake and Weiss! Blake's really cute with her cat ears and because she's a Faunus and Weiss…Weiss is special. Like, really special."

Looking over her shoulder, Ruby quietly added, "Weiss is the girl I like. She's really nice, even though she can be a bit stuck up sometimes. She's the Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, you see. And she's so pretty! Don't worry though; Yang finally found a boy too. He's my friend, Will, and he's with Onyx too. Actually, he was with Onyx. Not anymore. He's an amazing fighter, but he's also got some serious PTSD. And the more I learn about Remnant, the more I can understand why. Mom…I've walked on battlefields. I've fought people…I've seen people die. I've been to the North, mom! It was all winter and ice and cold and because we lived there, that didn't bother me! I have seen new Grimm that nobody else ever named, I have stopped psychopaths and fought with terrorists…mom, I think I figured out what being a Huntress really means. I'm still thinking about it, and I know there will be more good moments too, but…yeah, I guess I still need to think about it."

A bark behind her brought her back to her senses and she glanced over her shoulder. "Oh, looks like dad is back! He's dropping me off at Beacon for the tournament. We're going to win!"

With that, she put her hood back over her head and turned around to leave, but she nearly forgot the most important part. Turning back at the gravestone, she said, "I love you. It was good to talk!"

Renewed vigor, people called it. A source of energy that kept you going, no matter what. Motivation, the reason you fought. Ruby had just taken a good, long look at her own. And she was satisfied.

* * *

 **40** **th** **Vytal Festival Tournament -Amity Colosseum- 14:45**

There had to be at least three-hundred people watching. Maybe even more. Being this close to this many people would have made Will feel extremely uneasy, had it not been for two major factors that served to distract him. One of them was Alice sitting next to him in her civilian clothing, holding a small bag of popcorn in her hand. The other one -and the best one in his opinion- was team RWBY facing off against their opponents in the amphitheater, down below. The four of them simply looked magnificent, the way they calmly strode towards the center of the circle-formed arena. Four individuals drawn to each other through fighting and living together, side by side-

Will shook his head and leant back against his seat. Ancilla was getting a bit too enthusiastic about this. If he wasn't careful, she would drag him along in her excitement.

"Look at that," Alice said with a cruel smirk on her pale face. "She's riding a fucking hoverboard!"

"Language, please," Will replied, glancing at the young girl riding said hoverboard. The one with the light green hair, he supposed.

"Sorry, but look at that! She's a Grimm in a barrel!" Alice continued. "No way she would survive on the battlefield."

Between Ancilla's eagerness to watch Yang fight and the annoying commentators having taken the microphone already, Will was having difficulty concentrating. There was one thing that struck him as odd, though. "She would float over the mines and the barbed wire. No, look at that civvie with the pink hair."

"Guy with the white and yellow jacket?"

"Yes. What does that tell you?"

Alice thought about it for a moment before she snickered. "Shoot me in the head please?"

"Yup. He's a walking bullseye."

Alice had to break off her reply, because the commentators started again. "What's up guys!" the first one greeted. "My name is Geoff Ramsey and I'm joined tonight by my colleague, Jack Patillo."

"Hey," a second voice with deeper vocals chimed in.

"Welcome everybody to the 40th actual Vyttal festival! Ahh…Jack, I thought this day would never come."

"Well, there _have_ been some complications lately. Did you know that the Atlas military is guarding this station with at least half a fleet? It's like they're still expecting trouble."

"Ehm…no, I did not actually know that. What I also didn't know was how freaking crammed this place is. Do you think all these people know how it works? Think we should explain it again?"

"I guess so. Want to have the honour?"

"The stage is all yours, Jack."

The second commentator, Jack, audibly chuckled before he explained the rules to the newcomers. "The Tournament is divided into several rounds: teams, doubles and singles. The doubles are divided into subrounds, where the-"

"Subrounds?" Geoff interrupted Jack. "Is that word? Subrounds? Sub-rounds…su-brounds?"

"Yeah, the sub-rounds will be where the doubles will be tested in other attributes than their fighting skill."

"Like cooking?"

"Like cooking. Or, navigating dangerous obstacle courses, capturing the flag and other challenges that make me feel glad I don't have to participate. All the while fighting off the opposing duos, of course."

"Al-RIGHT then! Who are our contestants for today?"'

Will glanced at the opposing team again, taking in their weapons and stances. Obvious noncombatants, or at least inexperienced. Relaxed, a bit cocky too. It reminded him of the young privates he would unavoidably encounter at the start of any major battle. Too assured of their own invincibility and skillset, too green to last through the first few days of fighting. And he had thought that RWBY was still green.

The commentators continued, introducing the fighters with their uninteresting, bland, civilian traits. Team ABRN, two girls, two guys. Nothing special. When they came to team RWBY though, things started to get interesting.

"Moving on to team RWBY, Jack, I just want to point out that I have never seen a girl lift a weapon larger than she is."

"Feeling a little insecure there, Geoff?" Jack joked.

"Damn right I do! Is that the team leader?"

"Yup. Ruby Rose, youngest student to attend Beacon Academy in years. Standing next to her, Weiss Schnee, Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company."

"Have you ever been an heiress, Jack?"

"Can't say that I have. I doubt the Company would still exist if I was. On the other end of the team, Blake Belladonna-"

"-who will solve one of life's greatest mysteries for us today."

"What is that?"

Geoff chuckled before he replied, amused by his own joke. "Can a ninja beat a skater?"

Both man laughed at that little snippet before Jack resumed. "Right. And last but not least, Yang Xiao Long, who might be the living, breathing example of 'muscles don't mean everything'."

"And you live by that rule, don't you Jack?"

"I do. It looks like the territories have been chosen."

Indeed, the arena below split open to reveal two vastly different combat zones, two halves to make one circle. One fiery, volcanic earth and the other an icy glacier, in stark contrast with each other. Both teams jumped backwards and sought refuge in their respective arenas before the commentators gave the signal that they could begin.

"One, two, three GOOOO!"

"They sure like to hear their own voices," Alice remarked.

That they did.

' _Look, they're starting!'_ Ancilla said, accidentally causing another lance of giddy anticipation to shoot through Will's spine. She had recovered from her bout…moderately successful. Perhaps she chose to reject the memories, or decided to deny the effect that they had. It wasn't healthy and it sure wasn't coping. Because, in the years they had spent together, she had never learnt how to push away what she felt, let alone accept it. But right now, she was happy with things. ' _It´s so pretty!´_

Pretty wasn't the word he would have used. As the two teams collided in the middle of the arena, breaking off into individual fights with enough force to destroy the immediate areas of the battlefield around them, the word ´unprofessional´ came to mind. The green-haired girl launched her board at Blake, therefore immediately disarming herself. Had he been Blake, he would have dodged the blade and shot the girl.

He wasn't Blake though. She knocked the weapon back, allowing her opponent to direct the bladed edge right back at her.

"It's a hoverboard," Alice said again, glaring at the fighting girls with an expression that bordered on disgust. "A toy weapon."

Not really. As Blake closed in on the girl -Reese, Will believed she was called- the toy weapon took a hit and promptly cut itself in two parts, which in turn turned into revolvers. With blades stuck on them.

Reese was still in the air when she managed to squeeze off a few pathetically-aimed rounds, but then gravity took a hold of her again and she fell to the ground. Where she promptly slipped on the ice and fell on her behind, most likely her tailbone.

"Ooff," Jack Patillo eclaimed. "That's got to hurt!"

"Yeah, no kidding. That looked painful. Do you think she's suffering broken butt right now?"

Alice laughed in sadistic joy at the painful fall, but Will only found it frustrating. "A child could have broken that fall!" he snapped.

"Yup. Come on, finish her!" Alice called when Blake merely brought a hand to her mouth in shock. Will joined in when the black-clad Faunus didn't use the opportunity to remove Reese from the fight. "Just shoot her! You have a sword! Stab her!"

A few spectators sitting next to them gave them strange looks, but they didn't comment. Neither did Ancilla, because she was spending every second taking in Yang's fight. Her opponent -a girl called Arslan- seemed to bring more dedication to the fight. Shifting his focus to her, Will quickly discovered that she was easily the most skilled fighter of the team. At least the most disciplined one.

' _That girl is strong,'_ Ancilla said when she discovered Will concentrating on the same fight she did. ' _Do you remember the last time we fought on ice?'_

"No, I can't say I do," Will replied.

' _Oh. Well, the same sort of thing happened. We slipped and fell, but the ice broke and we fell in the water.'_ She paused to ponder the memory, before sheepishly adding, ' _That was cold. Do you think they are cold?'_

"She enjoying she show?" Alice asked, casually unsheathing one of her knives and rolling it between her fingers.

' _Yup!'_ Ancilla happily replied, which Will then relayed to Alice.

"Remember kids," Geoff remarked when Arslan landed a kick on Yang, sending the blonde skidding and stumbling across the ice. "Don't lick the yellow ice!"

Will didn't get it.

' _Aww…there goes Yang. She'll be back.'_

"Ancilla, take a look at that guy," Alice said, pointing at the pink-haired civvie who had clearly mastered the art of looking through the scope of his rifle.

' _Is he…sizing her up?'_

This was probably where one of Yang's sayings was applicable. "No, he just sucks at targeting."

' _Oh. Because that would be bad.´_

Truly the master of scope-sighting. At least until Ruby got a bead on him and promptly blasted the piece of ice behind him, leaving him whimpering like a little child who had been frozen up to his thighs.

Mostly because he had just been frozen up to his thighs.

"Your snap-shot record?" Alice asked.

"Point seven seconds, headshot," Will replied. Now Ruby _had_ an excuse not to pop the guy's Aura like a bubble; she got outflanked by the other male of team ABRN, who instead of immediately attacking her decided to give her some sort of comment. The moron then fell victim to Weiss' glyph manipulation, resulting in immediate appliance of head-to-wall. "Including the kill."

The two of them stopped for a quick conversation as well, before Weiss dashed off to -hopefully- finish off the fallen male.

' _I think that Ruby and Weiss would be perfect together,'_ Ancilla suddenly blurted out.

"I…what?"

' _You don't see it? It's like...ehm…winter and roses! It's poetry!'_

"Winter and roses?" Will repeated, earning an amused glance from Alice's side. "Ancilla, roses die when it freezes."

'… _not if they are white roses.'_

"Schnee and Rose?" Alice asked. "Together?"

"Yes. I don't think that would work."

Alice seemed to agree. "Never gonna happen."

' _You two are just hopelessly a-romantic.'_

"Uh-oh," Geoff then said, returning their focus to the fight below. "Looks like Bolin has a plan!"

Indeed. After a brief conflict with the male, Weiss prepared a glyph for Ruby to make use of, launching her straight towards him. He blocked her attack though, prompting Ruby to break off and return to Weiss' side. He then broke into a sprint and charged straight for the two girls

Ruby nodded at Weiss and flung herself at the enemy, forcing him to jump aside-

-right onto a patch of ice that Weiss melted with a simple gesture of her newly-repaired rapier, causing him to slip and nearly fall. Ruby made perfect use of that moment and crossed the distance between them within a heartbeat, slashing at the male with her scythe and knocking him right at Weiss.

The Heiress showed no mercy when she lashed out, jumping in the air and striking the student multiple times in short succession, before catching him in one of her glyphs and performing the same move she had once performed on Will, throwing the male violently against the ground.

He did not even try to get back up.

"That's Bolin Hori, knocked out in more ways than one!" Jack called, confirming ABRN's first casualty

"Guess Bolin's now Bolout. Hey-ooooooh!"

"I see what you did there," Jack replied.

´ _People are so much better when they are sleeping quietly in the filth, ´_ Ancilla softly said.

"Right," Will said, taking a few moments to process what his partner had just said. "Wait, what?"

' _Oh, it's nothing.'_

…alright then.

"That was a good takedown," Alice said, grabbing a handful of popcorn.

It wasn't the best. Arslan, seeing what had happened to her teammate, took Reece and went on the offensive, focusing on taking out Blake to even the score. With their combination of close combat and ranged support, the lithe Faunus was hard-pressed to dodge their attacks, even with her Semblance and Weiss supporting her.

Unfortunately, they left their pink bullseye unnoticed. As Blake and Weiss took the full brunt of their offense, Yang snuck around the back and pulled ABRN's remaining male out of the ice with one hand.

"That doesn't look good nice," Geoff said as the camera's zoomed in on Yang and her newly found playmate for a few moments. "What's she-?"

Before the student could even swing his gun around, Yang delivered what had to be a bone-crushing blow to his stomach, let go of him and then punched him right in his jaw, throwing him out of the arena with barely a scrap of his Aura remaining.

Jack and Geoff both yelled in sympathy pain.

"I've had worse blows," Will said.

"What, feeling jealous that you can't partake in the kid games?" Alice teased.

"Hardly." Partially. It wasn't that he was dying to show the world how good he was at killing teenagers …but he couldn't stand the thought of these bumbling, cheery _idiots_ being cast in such positive lights. These were the supposed guardians of mankind, protectors of the future. They were children. Not like Alice and he were, but actual, naïve children.

´ _Don't be so gloomy. Yang just punched that boy so hard that his body left the arena! ´_

"True."

The two remaining girls spun around, just in time to watch their teammate fly off into the distance. Even form this distance, Will could see their expressions shift from concentrated focus to shock and dawning comprehension.

"Yup," Alice said. "They're screwed."

There was no saving it for team ARBN now. The brief distraction of their last teammate falling, was enough for Weiss and Blake to turn the table and go on the offensive, which they immediately did. Their teamwork was sublime; both Weiss as Blake dashed forwards, aiming at the girl with the hoverboard. At the exact same time, Yang and Ruby did the same, aiming at the leader. Ruby could be heard yelling something and at that moment, right before impact, the duos switched their targets.

Ruby carved straight through Reese's hoverboard, sending her tumbling into the air and setting her up for one massive knockout blow courtesy of Yang, who grabbed her by the front of her clothes, spun around in midair and then smashed her head-first into the ground.

' _I love it when she makes craters.'_

Not to be outdone, Blake hefted both of her blades right when Weiss rose a wall of ice around the dark-skinned enemy student. Blake then placed one of her shadows in front of the wall and vaulted over it when it inevitably shattered under the leader's fists. Chunks of ice impacted on Blake's afterimage, which flickered and died as the hail of improvises shrapnel tore through its vacant image. Blake used the brief moment of confusion that she had sowed to nail the last fighter in the back, sending her stumbling towards Weiss who delivered the fatal blow.

At least, as fatal as the Tournament would allow. Either Weiss was exceptionally merciful or the student still had too much Aura left, because there was no blood to be seen as she was thrown out of the arena and onto the ground beyond it. A knockout was a knockout, he supposed.

"Wow, I cannot believe it!" Geoff Ramnsey yelled through the mic. "Team RWBY makes short work of team ABRN's last two desperate fighters, officially taking the match! Jack, did you see that-?"

Some automatic censor kicked in at Geoff's last word, replacing it with a sharp mechanical sound, earning a round of laughter from the spectators.

"That was…actually pretty impressive," Alice remarked. "Good tactical fighting. Glad to see that Beacon maintains the _standard."_

' _Never mind the standard, they won! We should go congratulate them! At least…the other girls don't know me. So you should go congratulate them. Can I say hi to Yang then?'_

"You can say hi to Yang," Will replied. Her antics brought a smile to his face, which was a hard thing to do.

"That's awfully specific. Why the blonde?" Alice then gave him a disturbing chuckle. "Unless, of course, one of you developed an…inappropriate crush on a certain someone."

While he wasn't particularly ashamed to admit his convoluted and frightening feelings towards Yang, he would like to make sense of them himself before discussing them with Alice. There was no reason to assume that she was better with this than him. "That's classified on a need-to-know basis."

"Right. Meaning?"

Will got up, knowing that Ruby would take her team directly to the fairgrounds after this fight. "Meaning, none of your business."

She stood as well. "You break my heart."

"I'm not your Semblance."

She didn't respond to that.

* * *

It was with the gait of a girl who had completely nothing to fear from her surroundings that Neotpolitan walked through the interior halls of the Amity Colosseum, searching for one of several control rooms that her…partnership…wanted access to. In the intricate designs that had gone into the manufacturing of this facility, the arrogant slobs at the top had forgotten one crucial detail. Their systems were easily hacked by proxy.

So with that in her mind and a scroll in her hands, Neo was right about to make her way deeper into the belly of the beast when she heard signs that she was not alone down here. Deep within the dark, reinforced hallways around the engine room, she could definitely hear voices.

Male voices, much to her annoyance. Her mind immediately sprung to the most logical conclusion; nosy Atlas soldiers had taken notice of her intruding and were moving to intercept her. Well, if they were that willing to sacrifice their lives in the line of duty, who was she to decline them?

But as Neo moved deeper into the colosseum, unsheathing her weapon and preparing for another lovely bloodbath, she didn't encounter any soldiers, oddly enough.

Well, not living ones. There were plenty of dead soldiers just laying around. Two, four, five…what were they doing here, all dead and things?

And more importantly, who had killed them?

A little bit more on edge, Neo pushed on. There was no blood, no signs of battle, nothing. Damage to their armour though. Blunt damage, but not enough to kill them. At least, not visibly. A Grimm left grizzly wounds, bullets and blades would have left more noticeable holes. A Semblance? Who in their right mind would just wander around here, killing random soldiers?

Apart from her?

It was only when Neopolitan reached one of the advanced engine rooms that she realized that she might not be alone down here at all. It was a large room filled with machines and screens that displayed all the information about the station and how it was kept afloat.

In the middle of the room, surrounded by the dead bodies of three more soldiers, stood a man. But not any man she recognized. Because, the second she entered the room, he turned around to face her. And that was odd, because Neo the silent step that could sneak up on Faunus people. It had come in handy plenty of times.

The young lady hefted her weapon, pointing the edge right at the face of the man in the center of the room. He wasn't unpleasant to look at, in an animal kind of way. His eyes were as red as fresh blood, while his hair was black. Pure, dark black. He wasn't a soldier, because his hair was just a few centimeters short of reaching his shoulders.

While his features were unusual enough, they weren't the cause of the sudden sense of unease and impending disaster that struck Neo. She had faced off against plenty of tough guys before. No, there was something about him that made him very, _very_ dangerous.

Like the woman in the trains.

Neo felt a shiver run down her spine and she instinctively backed off. This man in his black, torn clothes, did not belong here. Who was he with? Not the army, not Beacon, not her benefactor. Than who…?

For a few nerve-wracking seconds, Neo awaited his attack. When it didn't come however, she lowered her weapon and risked breaking the eye-contact that had been lingering. No visible weapons, but plenty of bloody wounds on his body.

Hmmm…interesting. Either he was captivated by her, or he was deciding on the best method to kill her. Either would make him foolish in delaying.

What had Miss Fall called them again? The Shadows of the Night? Onyx. They had large armies that existed out of soldier trained since childbirth. Soldiers ready to kill men, women and children at the call of an officer. Interesting people.

And none of them were as interesting as their Operatives. Of the five currently running around in Vale, two of them were working with the Beacon kids, probably making sure that they all survived. While terrorizing them.

Two others were still working on keeping the Grimm away from the city. Every hour of every day, for three weeks now,

And finally, one of them had disappeared. Was this one of those Operatives? The ones that Miss Fall despised the most? The ones that Neo had been specifically warned to avoid at all costs? This one didn't look that scary. Intimidating, sure, but not scary. Actually, there was something interesting about him in particular.

Neo smiled and the silent man blinked in return. Yes…very interesting. This might work.

* * *

 **Vale fairgrounds -16:00 hours.**

In her life, there had not been a lot of matters that Weiss Schnee could have laughed about. In the face of her father's never-ending struggle with politics, the White Fang, business and economy, the situations wherein worry, anger and fear were the proper response had vastly outweighed those wherein laughter had been at all possible. Sometimes a gilded cage really was just a dusty, grey one. Since she had escaped that life of family-obedience and proper manners, laughter had become an opportunity that she had never quite understood how to take.

"That was amazing! Those students never saw it coming!"

Of course, life was much more than the vast, dull, orderly halls of the Company. Life was filled with all sorts of emotion-inducing moments, which ranged from pure terror to honest glee. And she was glad that she was finally able to have a taste of all of that. Because right now, the Schnee family could not be farther away from her life, and victory could not be any closer.

Obviously, since her team and her had already attained it.

"And it's legit, right? I mean, it was a full team, in a full combat scenario! And we kicked their asses!"

"Don't get too excited," Blake told Yang as the team walked through the myriad of tents and little shops on the campus. "It was hardly the most difficult fight in our career."

"The more difficult fights hardly qualify as fair," Weiss then spoke her thoughts. "Neither as official."

"Yeah," Yang replied, her smile fading somewhat as she undoubtedly recalled her own disastrous fight against Blackwood. "I don't think any fight in the tournament can come close to those."

"But we can hope, right? Not every fight has to be about life and death. We're allowed to have fun."

Ruby had a point. This wasn't about stopping insane scientists or getting through an active warzone. This was just about winning fame and honour for Beacon. Something that they were _supposed_ to do.

"Yeah, well, but more importantly, anyone up for celebration-food?" Ruby then continued.

As a matter of fact, Weiss was. Very much so.

"I may have worked up an appetite," Blake said with her arms crossed behind her head. "Weren't we supposed to meet up with our friends after the fight?"

"Yup," Yang said, pulling out her scroll to check for new messages. "Ah…they're already waiting. How did they get there ahead of us?"

Weiss, Blake and Ruby turned and stared at Yang with what one might identify as deadpan expressions. Yang quickly realized her error and then added, "Yeah, I know. Come on; let's get there before they get arrested or something."

Normally, Weiss could easily tell when Yang was being punny again. This remark however, was a little bit too close to the truth. "What do you mean?"

Yang gave a low grunt as she passed one of the citizens, as if she saw the connection too. "You know…because of Onyx…and them being Onyx…and the world uniting against Onyx."

"Don't worry about that, Yang," Ruby said.

Blake too did not seem to be troubled by the thought. "It's not as if they will get accused of war-crimes for being here. Maybe for vagrancy."

Weiss wasn't so sure; she could totally see General Ironwood arrest someone for vagrancy. And subsequently keep them locked up for twenty years or so.

However, she soon discovered that there was no immediate risk for that happening. The two Operatives were at one of the tables near a cafeteria, sitting underneath a red umbrella without drawing any attention to themselves. Good.

"Hey," Will greeted them when they came closer. Weiss casted a suspicious look at the other Operative sitting next to him. Leaning with her head on her hands to appear all casual, but nevertheless carefully analyzing their every movements. She was a striking girl for certain; her face was gaunt, and her expression was hard, but it possessed a raw kind of beauty that wasn't found in many girls.

Her hair was disordered though. In fact, to Weiss, it looked downright unsightly. A half-shaven cut of shoulder-length, dark green hair…girl should not be walking around like that.

Even though Ruby would probably like it.

"Did you see the fight?" Blake eagerly asked her.

"I did," the Operative replied. "At least Beacon keeps up the standard."

Weiss bit back a sharp retort. There was just something about that girl that greatly disturbed her, and that disturbance often turned to outright anger. While not as far as Will, team RWBY and that Operative went way back together. Even before she had officially shown herself in the North, helping in the fight against Blackwood, the irresponsible cudgel had been having secret meetings with Blake in the night. Of course that had resulted in the two of them sneaking off during the search for Torchwick, which in turn had directly led to Blake breaking her leg while fleeing from a stolen Atlesian Paladin.

"Mind if we sit down?" Ruby asked.

"Not at all." The two shoved their seats back and made room.

"I have to admit, seeing those students mess up like that?" Mantis - _Alice_ \- then said. "Damn that made my hands itch."

"They jumped the gun several times," Will added. "Mistakes like that won't get them very far."

"In the tournament or in life?" Yang asked.

"Both."

"They're still students," Ruby said. Weiss wanted to chime in, but her Scroll then buzzed and she was forced to pull the device out, lest it alarm the others.

 _FATHER_.

Weiss glared at the detestable caller ID. Thanks to Onyx, she couldn't even _think_ about her family without thinking about every horrible crime they were accused of. And that was a _good_ thing. Even disregarding all that business about Faunus labor workers and black deals, there was no way she could forget about her nephew. Oh how Frost detested her family. How much he loathed _her._ With each and every detail she found out about him, it became harder and harder to blame him.

And the more she grew to despise her father.

The Heiress put her Scroll away again, but she had not gone unnoticed. While Alice and the rest of the team were chatting away about the fight, Will had picked up on her unwanted calls.

A part of her wanted to yell at him for not sticking with his own business, but she relented on that. Again, he was hardly to blame. No, she did something else instead. "Can I…ask you something?" she quietly proposed.

He immediately picked up on her hushed tone and leant towards her, casting his eyes to the ground below.

Weiss would take as a ´yes´. "It's about Frost. Is he…still in Vale?"

He nodded.

Good. "Is there a way I can reach him?"

"If you want to. I can give you his number."

Excellent. "I would like that, yes."

He did not ask for her motivations and reasons. He just complied. She supposed it was his nature, but she still waited a few seconds to see if the was going to.

"Next fight's tomorrow," Weiss heard Yang say. "Then it's JNPR's turn."

"So what happens until then?"

"We celebrate, I guess."

Ruby nodded in agreement and Weiss felt an arm pull at her shoulders. "Weiss and I are going to kick back in our room for a while, since Yang's out and Blake wanted to see more of the campus."

Mantis glanced at Blake. "Why that?"

Weiss tore her gaze from the Dancer and glanced back at Will, who was composing a message on his own Scroll, before sending it to her.

Frost's number. At last.

"Because," Blake replied after a moment of hesitation, "There is a lot to be seen, set up by a lot of different people. I think it is important to celebrate the close union between the Kingdoms as it is now."

Will lifted his head somewhat when he heard that. "What?"

At that, Alice casted him a warning look. "Don't start it-"

"We do _not_ have a close union between Kingdoms," he said rather vehemently. "The collective nation militaries are always standing by to decimate each other. Three years back-"

"Will!"

Greystone cut himself off, before reluctantly adding, "Well, it's the truth."

Yang sighed and placed her arms behind her neck. "As long as they aren't shooting each other, it's fine by me."

Blake nervously looked back and forth between the two Onyx soldiers. "As I said…it is important to celebrate it, as it is now. As this place is created by combined effort, I want to see."

"Sounds like a plan," Alice replied, taking a moment to glare at some girl as she walked past. "What about your doubles? Did you plan that out yet?"

"As the leader of this team, I thought long and hard about the decision," Ruby proudly said. A tad too proud to Weiss.

"We put it to a vote," Weiss then clarified for her leader.

"Ehm, yes, so but I decided to put it to a vote," Ruby then nervously tried to backtrack. Who was she trying to fool? Not Alice, was she?

"We voted for Yang and Weiss," Blake explained.

At that, an elderly man with an apron appeared, holding a clipboard to be used for food orders.

"I'll have the usual," Yang told him.

He disappeared and reappeared within seconds, holding a large bowl filled with noodles.

"Ooh…" Ruby stared at the steamy bowl of food with keen interest before deciding, "I'll have the same!"

More noodles. That was sure to ruin her figure. "Do you have anything with a low salt-?" Weiss didn't get much farther than that before she too came face to face with a large bowl of noodles. "Fine."

Blake merely nodded at the man, who nodded in return and rematerialized with a large bowl of noodles topped off with fish.

Now Weiss did not like to think of her thoughts regarding Faunus as bigoted, but this was an awfully typical thing to order.

"I'm good," Will said, declining the shopkeep when he glanced at him for his order.

"Yeah, me too," Alice chimed in.

But Ruby wouldn't have anything of that. "Ah, come on guys! It's to celebrate our victory!"

"We don't have any money."

"No money?" Blake asked.

"No. We ehm…" Alice shot a glance at the shopkeep before carefully saying, "…we always got the stuff we needed."

Weiss stared at the two, wondering why Blake even needed to ask that question. There probably was no need for buying material things when one's life existed mainly out of running around on distant battlefields, ending the lives of one's fellow men by the dozens. What good was money, when all you needed was a weapon and someone to order you to use it?

In addition, what good was any of this to them? Even though Ruby wanted to pretend that it wasn't an issue, it _was_. Will and Alice weren't like them. They were conditioned from a very young age to fight and kill. Such things left marks on people. How many of their 'polite' manners were just acting? Did any of them really want to be here? To normal people, being here would be a form of relaxing. To them, it would not be relaxing at all.

The Heiress sighed and crossed her arms. "Don't worry. It's on me."

"There is really no need-"Weiss shot the boy a stern look and he fell quiet. "I'll have the same."

So he was not immune to appealing to force. A good thing to remember.

"Alright then, me too. Thanks."

"Awww, Weiss? What's the occasion?" Yang asked with surprise as Weiss handed the man her card.

"Let's just say that this is my way to thank you all." She handed her card to the shopkeep. "For sending me to the doubles round, as well as other things."

Alice poked at the noodles with a slender finger. "You thinking-?"

"No," Will deliberately cut her off.

"It looks the same."

"What are you two on about?" Yang asked, but she got distracted when Weiss' card got flung right back at the table, embedding itself deep into the wood. An annoyed shopkeep pointed at his registry, which rather tastelessly displayed that her card was declined.

Frustration and bitterness rose up in the Heiress' throat like bile. She had not even _touched_ her allowance for this month. Her father had cut her off. It was obvious why, but since when?

"Mistralian swamp worms," the Operative continued, glancing at the bowls that the shopkeep was now preparing to take away.

The sudden remark shocked everyone into silence, including the shopkeep. The elderly man stopped dead in his tracks and stared at the girl with a mixture of horror and confusion, while Will just sighed and rolled with his eyes.

Blake made a sound of disgust and Yang too was utterly creeped out. "Eww."

"Alice!" Ruby exclaimed. "That's gross!"

"Nutritious and filled with proteins," Will replied. "But not gross."

It was like the early days all over again! Just when he was finally learning manners, another one popped up with the same problems!

"Some people consider them a delicacy in Mistral," someone commented. Weiss looked up and saw Pyrrha Nikos approaching, together with the rest of her team. "Mind if we help you out?"

"Hey Pyrrha," Ruby delightedly greeted her, before her young brain processed what the champion as actually saying. "Wait, _what?"_

"I think she was offering to help!" Blake quickly interjected.

"Aw, you don't have to-"

"But she could!"

Pyrrha smiled and joined them at the table, followed by Jaune, Nora and Ren. "Well, I think you earned it after that battle."

"Any chance we'll be seeing you two fight?" Ren asked Will and, by extent, Alice as well.

"No. We were forbidden from partaking in the tournament."

That was somewhat regrettable, but also understandable-

"Actually," Alice added, "we were forbidden from leaving the main building during any and all situations closely resembling combat."

"That's stupid," Yang said. "You can't even come to look at the tournament? Who came up with _that_ one?"

A pair of Atlas soldiers walked past the tent and Jaune shrugged. "Probably the guy commanding those guys."

"General Ironwood?" Weiss asked.

"So he can totally arrest you two for being here," Ruby muttered. "Huh…didn't see that one coming."

"Why would the General forbid you from leaving Beacon grounds?" Pyrrha asked after she gave her own card to the shopkeep, generously paying for their meals. "Did something happen?"

Alice openly hesitated in answering that question, something that Will did not fail to notice. "Officially, Onyx and the Atlas military are on the brink of armed conflict."

"And unofficially?" Ren asked.

"Unofficially, Ironwood wants to lock everyone ever involved with Onyx away. Preferably after successfully court-martialing them."

Nora appeared unamused. "That doesn't sound fair! Nobody ever told me what court-martial means!"

Ren sighed. "It's a military thing. Being court-martialed means going to jail, or-"

"Or being executed," Alice cut him off.

"…or being executed."

"That is not a very modern way to deal with those who were found guilty by trial," Pyrrha protested, but she too could not finish her sentence before she was interrupted. This time by Will, who started laughing in an untimely manner.

It didn't really sound like he thought her comment to be humorous though.

"Excuse me?" Pyrrha said, staying much more well-mannered than Weiss would have stayed, had she been interrupted in such a rude manner. "Did I say something funny?"

Will abruptly stopped his humorless laughter, casting a grim look at Pyrrha. "Atlas still condemns their war criminals to death by hanging. He openly stated that he will drag every one of us to court. What would _you_ do? Lock us away in specially-tailored prisons and risk us breaking free, or getting rid of us all at once?"

Pyrrha looked away and casted her eyes to the ground. Sometimes, the absence of an answer was an answer in itself.

Nora did not have that problem though. "That turned dark all of a sudden."

Conversations with them always turned dark, but this had to be a new low. Weiss couldn't think of a way to dismiss this talk; she had no clue how the real world worked. Frost did. Will and Alice did. She didn't. Knowing their luck, General Ironwood might actually be planning the execution of all child soldiers involved with Onyx.

"My apologies," Will then said, shaking her out of her thoughts. "I lost my manners."

 _What!?_ Since when did HE of all people worry about manners?

"That is alright," Pyrrha gracefully replied. "The threat must irk you."

Alice leant back in her seat, obviously not bothered by all of this. "Those swamp worms don't sound that bad now, do they?"

No, Weiss supposed not. Right now, she wasn't sure what she should suppose. All of this was pure speculation, nothing more, but still…whatever it was, it was not up to her to deal with. She had something else to deal with.

Perhaps realizing their mistake, both Onyx soldiers kept quiet as the two teams started working through their noodles. Nora strung up a conversation with Yang about betting on victors with real money, Pyrrha and Ruby begun discussing the fight and the rest just sat there, listening. It didn't feel forced, but it didn't feel like proper conversations either.

"I think we had better take our leave," Weiss eventually said when everyone had finished their meals. "After all, we have some business to take care of."

"And we should be planning our fight," Jaune replied. "Good idea."

"Yeah," Ruby said, winking at Weiss. "Good idea indeed, Weiss. Blake?"

The Faunus sighed and placed her elbows on the table. "I will stick around here. See what else the fairgrounds have to offer."

Weiss glanced over her shoulder and saw Emerald walking in the distance. `I guess you won´t be the only one with that idea."

Will saw the girl too. And, judging by the way his eyes never left her, Weiss guessed that he didn't really feel much for her. She was actually surprised by the hostility in his eyes; he had _never_ looked at any of them like that. What was wrong?

"No," he said without so much as blinking. "You won't. Yang? I will be leaving. Soon."

Yang frowned. "Are you…sure you don't need any help with that?"

"Yes."

The blonde sighed and crossed her arms. What did he mean by that? "Sure. Just come back soon, alright? Tomorrow's the fight."

"You don't want to miss it!" Nora said. Or threatened, knowing her.

"Copy -fine, I mean. Fine."

Slipped up there, Will? He hadn't done that in a while. What had him spooked?

Ruby coughed and broke it up before anyone could notice. "So, Weiss? Will you be escorting your leader back to the dorms? There are some things that I need to go through with you. Strategy-wise."

Weiss nodded courteously. "Of course. I would be _happy_ to oblige." She shot a glance at Yang and said, "You better not get in any trouble!"

Yang shrugged. "Meh. I'll try."

"Good luck with training you guys," Ruby called, getting up from the table. "Will, Alice, don't get in any trouble. Unless you want Professor Adamant to be your lawyer."

"Adamant can be an attorney?" Ren asked.

"Duh," Nora replied. "Braunschweiger can be a cook and a cleaning lady, Professor Adamant can be a nurse and a lawyer."

"Alright then. Sounds…logical."

"Don't be too long," Blake said. "There's something I want to see with you guys tonight."

"Sure," Weiss replied, glancing at Ruby. "See you tonight then."

* * *

 **30 minutes later, RWBY dormitories. Onyx satellite relay uncovered incoming Lemon.**

Tonight was a long, _long_ time away.

Ruby barely managed to contain herself as she kicked the door behind her close, pressing her lips against Weiss' and pulling at her waist with her free arm. Her heart was seriously about to burst; beating so hard and so fierce that it couldn't be healthy.

She didn't care. All she wanted was to be with Weiss; to stay with her and love her and be loved back. To have someone who wouldn't abandon her and someone she could protect. Weiss was all that and more.

"Ruby…" The Heiress gasped when Ruby moved her lips towards her neck and started nibbling on her collarbone. "D-don't do that…"

"Why not?" Ruby asked. Had she been too rdough?

"Because we're still standing, you dunce!" Weiss said with a small laugh. "I want to do this properly."

"Ah…oh!" With that, Ruby wrapped both of her arms around her lover's thin waist and jumped up towards her own hanging bed, her movement only subtly boosted by her Semblance. Nobody wanted another Ruby-roof incident.

The two landed in a heap on top of Ruby's bed, laughing and holding onto each other. Ruby just couldn't keep her hands to herself; mustering all of her courage, she slid her right hand down the Heiress' high, caressing her supple and soft skin. "You ready to do this?" Ruby asked, hesitating to go further.

Weiss closed her eyes and smirked. "Would you stop worrying? We have done this before."

"Yeah, but-" Actually, Weiss was right. Even though they were planning to go a little further this time, they had done this before. Two times, actually. There was no reason to be scared now, right? "You know what? You're right."

"That's what I like to he-ahh! Weiss broke off into a half-suppressed cry when Ruby went a step further and placed her hand on her well-shaped behind, digging her fingers into the soft and thin layer of fabric that covered it. "T-that didn't take long."

 _No,_ Ruby thought as she started groping and squeezing the girl´s left cheek, _it didn't._

Weiss seemed content to lay back and allow Ruby to explore her body, letting the redhead bring her left hand up her side and past her waist, dragging her fingers over her ribs and grazing the side of her breasts.

After a split-second of doubt, Ruby threw aside all caution and slid her hand underneath the flimsy clothing that protected Weiss' left breast, cupping the small mound of flesh and pushing herself closer against her lover.

Weiss gasped when Ruby wrapped the tops of her index finger and thumb around her stiff nipple, gently tugging at it. "A-ah! Careful!"

Ruby listened and met her about halfway. She released the girl's shapely buttock and brought her hand up to her other breast, performing the exact same movement, but a bit more careful.

Just a bit.

The Heiress released a shaky cry when Ruby increased the pressure on her sensitive breasts, gently pulling and massaging them without foregoing her attention to her nipples. A healthy blush was creeping up on Weiss' face and Ruby smiled, burning with pride that she could do this without messing something up.

Eventually, she let go of the girl's left breast and moved on to remove her bra, fumbling for a few moments with the intricate strap on Weiss' petite back.

"Not working?" Weiss said with a teasing voice.

"I…just…gah! I don't know how this works!"

Weiss giggled. "It's a new model. It can't be hard; just unzip it."

"Like this?" The impossible lock gave away underneath Ruby's hand and she nearly squealed with delight. "Got it!" She safely removed the piece of clothing and promptly discarded it, throwing it off the bed.

They would find it later.

The rest of Weiss' clothing soon followed. Combat skirts were easy to remove when they weren't actually being used for combat and Weiss used a piece that was very similar to that of Ruby. Eventually, she was faced with the nigh-irresistible form of Weiss' naked torso, a fact that didn't escape the Heiress. She wrapped her one arm around her chest and looked away, as if embarrassed. "You don't need to stare," Weiss muttered, her blush deepening.

It took Ruby a few seconds to actually realize that she was, in fact, staring at her lover. When she did, she quickly averted her gaze. "Sorry. You're just so pretty!"

Weiss rolled with her eyes. "Flirt. Well, what are you waiting for?"

"I…what?"

With a sly smile, Weiss reached out and slipped her hand down Ruby's skirt. The redhead gasped at the sudden touch, where the slender fingers left a burning trail on her skin. "Kyah!"

"I think it is time for you to share in my ordeal," Weiss spoke to her, bringing her lips to her ear. All of a sudden the roles were reversed. Now Ruby was the one being gently pushed down against the bed, with Weiss leaning atop of her, getting ready to strip her.

"I love combat skirts," Ruby whispered as the Heiress nudged her again with her fingers, sending jolts of pleasure running through her spine. "Mmmh…Weiss…"

Weiss kissed her once more before moving to remove the rest of her clothes, a favour which Ruby gladly paid back. While it was very easy to undress, Ruby still took her time in completely removing every piece of clothing from her lover's body.

Slowly, their hands started to roam freely over each other's bodies, caressing every smooth curve, every muscle and sensitive spots. Ruby quickly took the initiative and placed her hand on Weiss' stomach, tracing circles around her belly-button.

The Heiress practically pushed herself against Ruby's hand, as if begging her to continue. Her blush had grown even deeper and she glanced away with an embarrassed look on her face.

Ruby smirked and placed the tip of her middle finger against the lips of her vagina, gently pushing it and marveling at the exposed beauty of her girlfriend. "You've shaven. It's so smooth…"

Weiss made an indignant sound. "O-of course I did! Y-you made your i-intentions quite clear."

Still trying to remain so tempered? Not if Ruby had anything to say about. "Communication is the _best_ …" she pushed her finger inside and Weiss bucked with her hips, badly disguising a cry as a soft moan. She was so _warm_ inside. Warm and wet. She felt her heart practically enlarge itself with pride at that last one; it was proof that she was starting to get good at this! "And you're being very clear."

"Ahh! Y-you're-"

Ruby pulled her finger out again, earning a look of disappointment from her lover. That didn't last long however, as Ruby gently placed her finger against her clit and _pushed_.

Weiss yelped with surprise, which was all the incentive that Ruby needed. She grinned and lay down against the Heiress' body, pressing her own breasts against hers. Her finger pushed and brushed around her lower lips, parting them but not quite entering again.

"That's better," Ruby said. "It's okay to let go. We're alone."

"S-stop teasing," Weiss moaned, forcing the words out through heavy breathing. "Just d-do it. P-please."

"Do it?" Ruby repeated, moving her index finger against Weiss' clit again. "Like this?" Then, she inserted not one, but two fingers, earning herself a loud cry followed by a series of gasps as the Heiress tried to recollect herself. She was so _sensitive_ …every response that she got out of Weiss aroused her further and further, from the way her eyes shot open in surprise to the ever increasing wetness down below. It felt amazing.

"Faster…" Weiss moaned, restlessly dragging her feet over the blankets.

"Already?" Ruby teased her. "I thought you were patient."

"Ruby!"

"Hmm…alright then." In truth, she was more than happy to comply. Her own heart was beating faster than it did when on the battlefield and she couldn't stand the thought of taking this slowly. She wanted to go _fast._

She pulled her fingers out and immediately pushed them back in, utterly unopposed by Weiss' wet labia. Her inner walls clenched pleasantly around the invading appendages at first, but they easily adjusted around them.

Ruby leaned down and nuzzled Weiss' neck with her lips, taking in the feeling of her lover's soft breasts pressing against hers. She moved in accordance with Weiss' soft gaps of pleasure, rubbing her outer lips with her thumb as she pushed herself in and out at an ever-increasing pace. The fingers of her other hand were digging into the soft flesh of Weiss' breasts, exposing every inch of her small mounds.

It couldn't last long. Before soon, Weiss' rhythmical gasps lost their regularity, and her voice rose in pitch. "Ah…R-Ruby! I'm- ahh!"

"Just relax, Weiss," Ruby whispered in her ear, increasing the speed of her fingers and the pressure against her clit when the Heiress practically bucked her crotch against her hand.

Then, Weiss nearly screeched as a ripple shot through her spine, arching her hips even deeper onto Ruby's fingers. Something spilled out of her onto her legs, a part of the sheets and all over Ruby's hand. For several heartbeats Weiss lay on the bed, dazed and completely out of breath. Ruby gently withdrew her sticky fingers, which were drenched in Weiss' juices.

"You alright?" Ruby eventually asked as her lover stirred again and rested her head on the pillow.

"That…yes…that was _amazing_."

"Don't take too long," Ruby said, nearly gasped, with desire. "It's your turn now." She pushed against Weiss' still-drenched crotch with her own, gasping with delight at the sudden sensations that shot through her body.

After a brief gasp at the sudden contact, Weiss faintly smiled. "You are so _impatient._ "

Ruby nodded in agreement. "Come on…hurry!"

"Fine. I'll teach you a lesson in _manners_." With that, Weiss readjusted herself and sat down in front of Ruby, before placing her hands at her thighs.

"Wait, what are you doing/" Ruby asked, though she already knew the answer. Probably.

"What?" Weiss asked with a smirk, placing a slender finger against Ruby's crotch, finding her most sensitive spot without a moment's hesitation. "Did you think you were the only one with the ability to tease? Don't be ridiculous."

"I-"

"Hush," Weiss cut her off. "I think it's time for you to learn how to _take_ as well as _give."_

Ruby was about to protest when Weiss leaned forwards and flicked her clit with her tongue, sending lances of pleasure down her spine. Her words were lost in a sudden cry of pleasure and surprise, and the thought of Weiss going… _down…_ on her was more than enough to make her blush in turn, if the sudden stinging on her cheeks were anything to go by.

Ruby clutched her left breast and glanced down at the girl between her legs, who elegantly dedicated herself to the task of pleasuring her. This was new to her, and she was not sure if she felt nervous or not. Actually, she felt a whole lot of things. Her mind was fluctuating with lust and desire, but also the need for love and attention. It was peculiar thing, not helped by the severely limiting factors that Weiss´ tongue were placing upon her thoughts.

Oh how Ruby longed to simply close her eyes and drift away on the bed, letting her carnal desires overtake her. But she couldn't take her eyes off of the Heiress, and she couldn't move her body. Her arms were tensed up, stuck in gripping the blankets below her naked frame.

Perhaps she had overestimated her stamina, or she had underestimated Weiss' skill in oral performance. Whatever it was, her entire body seemed to completely spiral out of her control. A warm, hot pressure started building up in her stomach and she moaned when Weiss hit a particularly sensitive spot inside of her.

"Ahh! W-Weiss!"

It didn't long after that. An amazing, fiery feeling built itself up within her core. She became extremely aware of every single inch of Weiss' warm tongue, moving around within her. She jerked with her hips and cried out when something inside of her gave away. A wave of pleasure crashed over her and her mind went absolutely blank. She felt muscles contract in places she didn't even knew she had and the feeling of absolute bliss that washed over her was enough to drown out all senses.

Her orgasm lasted for several long, mind-numbing seconds, before the exhaustion hit her. It was as if every single bit of energy that her body had ever possessed just evaporated.

"Hah…hah…" She had to recompose herself in order to speak clear, audible words. A torrent of emotions was raging through her mind and she had a hard time making sense of them all.

Weiss wiped her mouth with her hand and smiled. "Was that…pleasant?"

"I love you," Ruby gasped, her heart beating her brain in terms of control. A mere second after she had uttered that dreaded word did she gasp, and clasp a hand in front of her mouth, but it was too late.

Weiss cocked her head to the side. "What?"

Too late. She couldn't go back on what she had said, because she really meant it, but she also couldn't take _back_ what she said. Had she messed up? Made a horrible, terrible mistake? "I'm sorry -I mean-"

Weiss didn't let her finish. Instead, she wrapped her arms around Ruby's waist and planted a kiss on her lips. "Don't be silly. I love you too."

"I…I…" She had to fight to keep the tears that sprung in her eyes from pouring down. "You do?"

Weiss pulled back from Ruby and gave her a look. "What? You didn't think I did?"

After Summer had disappeared…and Raven had left…Ruby wasn't sure what to expect anymore. Her father loved her, her uncle loved her and Yang almost loved her more than her body could handle, but that was her family. They were supposed to love her. Outside of it though? No, she had not expected this. There wasn't anything that she could say.

So she didn't say a thing. She pulled her arms around her girlfriend and just hugged her.

* * *

Squad leader Sergeant Cobalt mentioned for the four other soldiers in his group to follow his lead. The Bullhead multi-role VTOL stood at the ready, and they had all been briefed on the coming operation. Their target was slippery and dangerous, but nothing that a good trigger finger and superior firepower couldn't handle.

"Saddle up boys," he called. "Beacon Academy is right around the corner. Time to make Atlas proud."

* * *

" _I know we want this war to end soon, and taking out that pale Grimm bitch is the best way to go, no argument there. But what is the point in killing that monster when we will only create more monsters in her place? Amping them up on stimulants to get them hyped for the fight is one thing, but consistently jolting the pleasure centers in their brains to actually let them fall in love with the killing? That's goingWe're raising soldiers, not psychopaths. And on the subject of psychopaths, will someone get me Jet? The fucking prick swapped out their narcotics with hallucinogenic agents. We need them to feel joy on the field, not OD in the middle of a fight. Blackwood nearly lost an eye because of that asshole! I swear, that's what you get when you hire fucking sadists…and has anyone seen Thyrian?"_


	11. Chapter 11

**Knight7572:** _flashbacks will be integral parts to revealing the past, but those two characters never actually met._

 _ **Tuutje07:**_ _So the last scene was good? Nice. I can add 'lemons' to my writer's resume as well._

 _ **Minesniper:**_ _no problem. And yes, if this were an officially-sanctioned operation, it would definitely be an act of war. And something like that would not go well with Beacon at all._

 _Anyway, a warning: the first POV is not for the faint of heart._

* * *

" _So tell me. Why do you fight?"_

" _I had a little sister when I was younger, ma'am. She cried a lot. I always hated it when she cried."_

" _Oh? Go on."_

" _I believe I fight because I see the world like my younger sister."_

" _So you hate the world?"_

" _No ma'am. I just want to do everything I can to make it stop crying."_

 **Citation taken from Operative [REDACTED] Blackwood's psych profile.**

* * *

 **Onyx anti-terrorism operation [DATA REDACTED] -Vacuo, nine years ago,**

 _Her corpse lay slumped over against the wall, with bright blood splattered all across the floor. Her clothes were torn and crumpled and her face was bruised, though the bullet hole in her forehead was probably worse than the bruises._

 _The militiaman stepped over her frail form and walked up towards the window, buttoning up his pants again._

 _Alice was lucky; he had finished just as she had found him, setting him up for an easy takedown. The lady was not so lucky; had she been here a little bit sooner, she might have caught them in the act, and she could have saved her._

 _Ah well. The lady probably wouldn't have survived the coming days anyway. The strong preyed on the weak, and these cities were going to be crawling with predators soon._

 _But right now, she was the predator._

 _The militiaman never saw her coming, never heard her approach. Alice unsheathed her knife -a beautiful karambit- and hopped onto his back. She was light and he was heavy and he didn't even stumble because of her sudden weight, but that was good. She shoved the curved blade right into the base of his skull, just above the tip of his spine, as the instructors had taught her. Just like one of those old Spruce Willis movies, which she had only seen upon the instructors' insistence. She had spent many an evening watching war and action movies, as per training._

 _She jumped off again as the body fell to the ground, and wiped the karambit against his pants. Some new juices on his clothes right there._

 _Alice looked down at her kill with no small amount of satisfaction. It was a very pretty corpse now, with only one hole inside of it. The mere thought of the death was enough to cause her entire body to tingle with joy. If only she could go after the others now. Snuff out their lives one by one, hunting them down like the Grimm did._

 _Too soon. Not now. She had a goal to reach; find the warlord and slit his throat. And she would stop at nothing to do that._

 _Well, almost nothing then. When she glanced outside through the window, she spotted something that caught her interest more than the throat of some bearded old bastard._

 _A little scraggly-looking kid was wandering around on the street, moving from empty house to empty house, nearly dropping his militia rifle as he did. The weapon was much too large for him to carry; occasionally he would drag it across the ground to make it hurt his arms less._

 _But he wasn't alone. A young girl was watching over him while he went from door to door. She too wielded a rifle that she could barely carry, but at least she was smart enough to rest it in the frame of the shattered window she used to keep watch._

 _Alice wondered what they were doing here. The militiamen had been waging genocide in these villages for months now, and all the children were supposed to be dead. And the dead man had not shot these ones when he had been gazing out the window, so they had to be with them._

 _With the warlord. Orders were clear; no witnesses. Nobody was allowed to know that she was here. The rules were simple. Kill these kids and move on._

 _But she didn't really feel like that. If they were just like her, they might have some interesting things to say._

 _Alice looked down at the corpse of their overseer and then back at the children. They didn't look like a disciplined lot…walking back and forth without paying attention to people who might want to hurt them. They too wouldn't survive the coming days._

 _Meh, what could go wrong? Either they were threats and she would kill them, or they could be nice and she didn't have to kill them. A win-win situation._

 _The Onyx soldier dropped down from the window and went for the upturned dumpster that lay at the side of the road. If she was going to do this, she didn't want anyone to see her. There could be more militiamen in the houses, and one on one she could not win._

 _So with that thought kept safely in the back of her mind, Alice started making her way towards the children. They looked really unorganized; they weren't using any cover, they didn't seem to be heading towards a specific goal. What were they even doing here?_

 _They had better tell her. She didn't like it when people kept secrets from her._

 _The boy wandered out of one of the buildings, shaking his head at the girl. "Nothing."_

 _Alice crept closer, making sure to be as quiet as she could. What were they looking for?_

 _The girl looked around, perfectly missing Alice's hiding spot, before replying, "Not even food?"_

 _Ah._

" _No. Nothing."_

" _Fuck…we shouldn't stay here. Leader will get angry."_

 _Leader would get angry? Now that was interesting. Because, if she was right about this, there was only one leader in this place. A man that Onyx wanted dead. Unless of course, this leader was their leader. Dusk had told her that this man was responsible for the creation of hundreds of 'bad child soldiers', who weren't like her, Will or Alan, or any of the dozens of other Operatives._

 _So if these were the bad child soldiers, they had to be with the warlord._

 _Alice sat down on the roof, glancing at the two kids. There had to be another one here as well; there was no way that these two were all there was. Hundreds was not two._

 _An idea struck her, and she smiled at her own genius. She could use them to find the warlord! It would save her days of searching._

 _Hmm…they still hadn't noticed her. Oh well. "Hello."_

 _She expected the bad child soldiers to react with violence, and they did not disappoint. They immediately turned around on the spot and, as soon as they noticed her, opened fire._

 _Bullets tore through the room and the wall of the building, forcing Alice to duck and run for cover. They were sloppy shooters, but those oversized guns looked like they carried enough rounds to turn the house into timber. And it would only take one lucky shot._

" _Stop firing!" Someone yelled. A voice that Alice hadn't heard before. It wasn't another militiaman; this one sounded young too. Had she overlooked someone?_

 _She crawled down the wall and quickly dove behind a fallen piece of wood. She could see the two other young soldiers from her position and she was right! There had been someone she had missed! And he looked different from those kids too. He was a little bit taller and his hair was darker. He could have been ten, or eleven. A purple ear stuck out from underneath his hair. One single Faunus ear, a cat one. It was a cute little thing; all thin and good at sneaking. He had gone completely unnoticed by her!_

 _Alice vowed to do better and reached for her knife. Onyx had taught her that hurting people could force them to tell her what she wanted to hear. And she would really love to hear where her target was hiding. The mean old man responsible for all this killing and death and misery. Perhaps she could hurt the other two in front of him, see if that got him to talk._

 _But she had never seen a Faunus on the battlefield before. They were supposed to be completely different from humans, but she hadn't noticed any of that yet. And as much fun as it would be to take his other ear off, it would probably be more fun to just talk with him. So little people were willing to just sit down and have a little talk. Adults were so boring._

 _So Alice slid away from the piece of wood and popped up near their flank, in a position from where she could perfectly catch them in the back if she wanted to. She feeling that she could kill them and that there would be nothing they could do about it brought her confidence. Enough to make her feel like actually talking to them. Another thing that adult people seemed to ruin. "Just want to talk."_

 _All three of them reacted like trained soldiers. Turn around, aim your gun and then hesitate to fire. So funny to see._

" _Who are you?" the Faunus asked._

" _I'm Alice," she replied. "Don't be scared; I won't hurt you."_

 _The cat boy glared at her for a few seconds, but then he lowered his gun too. "I'm Oliver."_

" _Ol!" The girl cried out._

" _That's Sky-" he pointed at the girl- "and Brass."_

" _Hello," Alice said to them. "Why are you here?"_

 _Man, if looks could kill. They were just downright glaring at her! Like a bunch of predators. Had alice not been so confident in her own abilities, she might have felt intimidated by these war-shaken bad kids. Only this 'Oliver' kid looked somewhat nice. "Why do you want to know?" he asked her. "What are you doing here? You don't look like you're with leader."_

 _Had she been an adult, they would have tried to kill her already, she was certain of that. "I'm lost. I came from the other place. It was burned down. I lost the rest of my group."_

" _We should kill her," the other boy said. Rude; she was standing right there! "We can't trust her."_

" _No," Oliver sharply told his friend. "Enough killing. We've been here too long. Without food. We should go back to base."_

 _That sounded like a place where she wanted to go. "Can I come with? I don't need anything, I just want a place to sleep."_

" _Where is instructor?" the girl suddenly asked. She looked so different from the boys, and Alice knew why. Bad child soldiers weren't given good training, and used for bad missions. Alan told her that young girls were given to old men for having sex, and that it was very bad for them. "He should decide."_

 _Thinking that instructor might be the dead guy she had jumped back in the house, Alice quickly came up with an excuse. "I think I saw him. He died. A woman stabbed him in his head."_

" _But the gunshot?" Oliver asked._

 _Alice shrugged. "Another civilian."_

" _If that's true, we should run," Brass said. "They're going to punish us for his death. And you. They will probably kill you."_

 _Oliver looked really upset. "No! If instructor died, he was stupid. And you're stupid too, for coming here. You should have stuck with your group!"_

" _Can't. They're gone. If you can give me a place to sleep, I'll be gone tomorrow. Promise."_

 _Alice had a feeling that they wouldn't tell her where to find the warlord. But she was almost certain that these kids were with him, so if she could just follow them, she should make it._

 _Then, Oliver surprised her. "Fine. But only until tomorrow! And if anyone spots you, we don't know you."_

 _Alice grinned. "Thanks a bunch! I'll be gone tomorrow, I promise."_

" _Yeah, fine. But don't get spotted, and don't even look at leader! He is important!"_

" _Sure-" Actually, that was new to her. How could an evil man be important? "Important."_

" _You wouldn't understand. Do you want to come or not?"_

 _Whatever. He was right; she probably wouldn't understand. Didn't want to either. She only wanted to understand what a nice boy like Oliver was doing here, if he was supposed to be bad. He didn't look bad to her. Sue, the other two did, but they weren't really important._

 _It took them a while to actually reach the first outpost, which was this abandoned building with lots of rooms. And boxes. Broken windows, too. During the road to get there, Alice got the feeling that the two other kids were constantly looking for reasons and excuses to kill her. They never really got far enough to make her kill them in return, but it was frustrating and somewhat frightening. Adults were predictable, but these bad child soldiers were different from her and the others. They weren't bad, but they were…confusing._

 _When night fell, Oliver was the first to take watch. The other two kids went to sleep, which gave Alice a chance to talk to this curious Faunus without having to watch herself._

 _He was sitting in front of a window, peering through the stained glass at the sandy lands beyond. His rifle was just too big for him to properly hold, which was why he was trying to support it on the frame of the window. It looked stupid. Did he have a knife? Did he know how to use it? He had been nice to her, so perhaps she could teach him how to use his knife. Be nice in return._

" _You're a Faunus," Alice told the boy. Best way to start a conversation. She didn't know that many Faunus; the few she had seen with Onyx has all worn helmets. This was her first ever conversation with one. Didn't feel all that different from a normal person._

" _Used to be," the boy replied. "Not anymore."_

" _What happened?"_

" _A soldier ripped it off when I couldn't keep my rifle above my head anymore."_

 _Ouch. That sounded horrible. A bit like what Onyx did to her whenever she didn't do something they wanted her to, but with more lasting damage. She knew that exercise; you were supposed to hold your rifle above your head for half an hour to build muscles and 'discipline'. Nobody lasted that long. Alan had reached a record time of twenty minutes before he fell. The beating he got after it broke one of his ribs._

 _Nothing as bad as a lost ear though. What was she supposed to say? "That sucks."_

 _He made a gesture with his head. "Could be worse. Other kids had a hand or foot cut off."_

 _Alright, that was worse. "Why not leave?"_

 _He sighed. "And go where? Everyone I know is dead. Leader is the only one I can hide with. He wants to make peace in Vacuo. Get rid of the corrupted Academies, make a new world."_

 _Many idiots wanted that. Nobody ever got it done. "That's difficult."_

" _I know. So…who are you really, Alice?"_

 _She rolled with her eyes. "What do you mean?"_

" _You're not with leader…you're not from around."_

 _In that instance, Alice pressed him against the window, holding her dagger against his throat. "Stay quiet," she whispered at him. He found out that she wasn't a part of his group, which made him a threat. If he screamed, all of them had to die. She didn't want that. She didn´t want to kill this one. She could not possibly understand why, but she did not want to hurt him. "How did you know?"_

 _He was not fazed at all. He stood there, looking at her with his large, unhappy eyes. Such pretty Faunus eyes. All yellow. "Your smell. You don't smell like gunpowder, or drugs. Only blood." She pressed her knife closer against his throat, and he inched away from her knife. "Are you going to kill me?"_

 _He sounded so calm. No. She wouldn't. She couldn't. "Depends. I need to meet your leader."_

" _Why?"_

 _The sudden alarm in his voice made him noisy. She didn't want that. "Quiet. Because I want to know something."_

" _What? Who are you?"_

 _With a small amount of pride, she said, "I'm a special soldier. I am here to investigate."_

 _He grunted. "I don't care about that. If you meet leader, he will hurt you."_

 _Oh, she didn't think so. "I have a plan. If you take me with you, I won't hurt you. And I will be gone after I'm done."_

 _He seemed to hesitate. "You won't hurt leader?"_

" _No." Unless he was the warlord._

" _You won't hurt my group?"_

 _What, Brass and Sky? Of course not. "I promise."_

 _Oliver sighed. "Alright, fine. But you have to promise! On your soul!"_

 _Now it was Alice's turn to sigh. What use was a soul, anyway? "Fine."_

" _Good."._

 _Alice stared at him for a few more seconds, before letting him go. He ran his hand past his throat, but he didn't try to attack her or call his friends. He really kept his promise? Wow. That was…impressive._

" _So who do you work for?"_

" _I can't tell you," Alice said, turning around to leave. "It's a secret."_

" _I hear you."_

 _She left him to keep watch after that. She didn't need to sleep, anyway. Better to stick around in the shadows and watch them in case they were attacked. She couldn't care less about Brass and Sky, but Oliver was special. Maybe because he was a Faunus. He was kind of cute, too. Him being alive would be a good thing._

 _Very good._

 _Morning came sooner than she had expected. In Vacuo, the sun came up sooner it seemed. Walking took a long time, too. When the group finally made it back to their base, Alice felt somewhat relieved. She hated the sun. Too bright, too warm._

 _That relief turned into disappointment real soon The base had only a few buildings, one of which was a large house. Not really fancy military stuff. The only cool-looking building was this large hangar._

" _We need to explain why instructor died," Oliver told her. "You talk to leader. Just be careful,"_

" _That's alright," Alice replied. "Good luck."_

" _You too."_

 _No, the building was far from impressive. A very old hangar, where planes were supposed to be built. Only a handful of soldiers, too. Probably guarding the leader._

 _Well, the guards never saw her. She slipped past them, stabbed them in their vital organs from behind and then covered their mouths with her hand as she slit their throats. There was a special organ in the body -she had forgotten its name- that, if stabbed, would cause a person to completely freeze up. They couldn't even scream anymore and they couldn't fight anymore. These soldiers had a little bit of Aura to protect them, but it only protected against attacks they could see. And they never saw her._

 _The warlord stood on a catwalk, where he observed a Scroll that he had pulled out right when Alice had butchered his last guard. It was definitely him. She could reach the catwalk if she jumped, but how would she take him down? She couldn't reach his torso that easily._

 _Ah, she knew what she would do. Will had her taught this one._

 _Alice flexed her muscles and pulled herself up, right below the warlord. He barely had time to yell in surprise before her dagger found its mark between his legs, sinking deep into his body. He screamed and doubled over, the silly moron, which was the perfect way for Alice to grab one of his arms with both hands and jerk him over the railing._

 _She didn't weigh a lot, so it didn't cost her any energy to keep hanging on the walkway. He weighed a lot, which was made worse by the bullet-resistant vest that protected his chest and only his chest. He fell several meters down, landing on the floor with a loud 'bang'. Flat on his back, too. Perfect. Now he didn't have to waste time and energy trying to shove him the right way up._

 _It worked. She should thank Will for this; he had saved her some effort._

 _The young Operative dropped down and brandished the dagger again. The old bastard was still alive! Probably with a broken spine though. Well, she had made herself a promise. She would slit his throat, and here he was, perfectly exposed._

 _She knelt down by his head, slowly pushing it up to expose all the vulnerable arteries and veins in his neck. Then, she plunged her blade into his throat, carving through his warm flesh and spilling blood everywhere. She pulled her weapon out of his ruined throat and struck again. Again and again and again, until her arms were soaked and there was no more progress to be made._

 _Behind her, the hangar doors were slowly being pushed open. She glanced over her shoulder to see if she should run, but it was only the other child soldiers, coming to check up on their leader. Oliver, Sky and Brass, together with another kid she didn't know._

 _So it was going to be like this._

" _Sir!" Brass cried, and he took aim at Alice with his rifle. "She´s killing him!"_

 _Alice glared at him, splatters of blood slowly dripping off of her face. Such bad timing…of all of the people who had to walk in on her kill, it had to be them._

" _Alice, you promised!" Oliver yelled at her. He had not raised his weapon yet. That made it worse. He should shoot her. Shoot her before she could move. "You promised you would not hurt anyone!"_

 _So she killed her emotions and turned her heart to steel._

 _Sky didn't say anything. She merely raised her rifle as well._

 _Young Alice was so much faster, so much more decisive. Before the not-bad child soldiers could even think of opening fire, she stood in the middle of their formation. There was no going back today._

" _You said you wouldn't -"_

 _So she took her dagger and plunged it deep into his heart. His breathing hitched, his yellow eyes widened. His expression turned to pain and shock. His single cat ear twitched in response to the cold steel that had pierced his chest. His left arm moved for her shoulder, but it could not reach her and fell down again. Together with his rifle. s_

 _Alice slowly pulled her blade out of his chest, and then pushed him with one hand. The Faunus fell, just like his leader had. Fell to the ground like a broken doll, blood pouring from the wound in his lithe chest._

 _No mercy. No hesitation. The other children fell around her within mere heartbeats. Their throats seemed eager to split and come apart underneath the edge of her dagger. Blood flowed freely as she danced between their bodies, falling to the ground in large droplets and puddles._

 _There was no fight, no resistance, and Alice only stopped when the child soldiers lay unmoving at her feet, mangled and broken. Only then did she allow herself to feel again. The deed came with a rush of heat and clarity, like things only made sense whenever she got covered with blood. Always. It made her feel like the special food that they always got whenever they behaved. A stream of bliss and ecstasy and joy and pleasure all welled up in her chest, threatening to burst out and make her bleed just like the Faunus had._

 _Her blood was boiling, her skin itching. So alive._

 _But there was something else, too. Amidst the happiness that the death around her brought her, something told her to take a good, long look at the body of the Faunus whose life she had just taken._

 _And she did. And the something else turned into sadness. It was all so hysterical. So conflicting. So, she started laughing. Laughing at the dead warlord, laughing at the mangled children, laughing at the blood and the tears that were now freely streaming down her face._

* * *

 _ **Beacon Academy**_

 _ **Present day**_

 _ **Gardens**_

The evening after her intimate hours with Weiss came with much clarity and inner peace, as Ruby quickly found out. The two of them had fallen asleep in their dorms, and after Ruby had woken up, she had discovered that she was alone.

It puzzled her, but it also made a certain sort of sense. They had just done something… _very_ intimate, and it was only normal that Weiss would want some privacy after that. But still, to actually leave? Just like that? That was odd.

Well, Ruby wasn't Weiss. She just wanted to cuddle and be happy after what they had done, but if Weiss wasn't like that, she would have no problem with that at all. She could visit the garden and take a walk there.

Oh! She could pick flowers! Weiss loved flowers. It would be a sort of welcome-back gift for when Weiss would come back.

With that idea kept firmly in the back of her mind, Ruby made her way down the various stairs of Beacon Academy and headed out to the gardens. She came across the trophy-room on her way there, which looked like it had hadn't been touched in a long while. A pity; there were enough new achievements for them to keep there. Oh well. Professor Adamant was busy.

When the young Rose reached the most beautiful place of Beacon, she spotted a familiar sight, in an unfamiliar place. Will was kneeling down in front of a small bush covered with lovely, red flowers. He held a knife in his hand, which was easy to overlook, seeing as it had almost the exact same colour as the dark sky.

He seemed alright. Working with the flowers. That was cool, she guessed. "Hey," Ruby said, approaching her friend with her hands crossed behind her back. "How are you?"

"I'm good," he replied, before turning around to look at Ruby. He seemed happy. Or content, which was more like him. "Thanks."

"No problem." His hands were covered with dirt and sand, and he had a small satchel strapped to his hips. A bunch of purple flowers stuck out of them, as if he hadn't wanted to crumple them. "Are you picking flowers?"

"I am gathering ingredients." His fingers trembled slightly as he plucked the red flower out of the ground. They also trembled somewhat as he placed it at his side and reached for the next one. It wasn't that cold outside though. Was she making him nervous?

Ruby pushed a strand of hair out of her face. The wind was slowly picking up. "Isn't that the same?"

Will paused. "Then I guess we're picking flowers."

Huh…plural. Again. Well, if he was taking them for ingredients, he wasn't going to give them to anyone. A shame; Yang liked flowers. "Flowers as ingredient. Can I know what you're making?"

He nodded, slowly taking out a small, glass bowl and placing the red flower in it. "The Valerian rose. Raw, it has calming effects. When mixed with other plants, it can be used as a powerful painkiller."

"Ah," Ruby said, nodding with her head. That explained a lot. What would he be needing painkillers for? "Are you going to need that?"

"Maybe. It's useful to have it on hand; it has no addictive qualities and doesn't mess with your head."

"What, like drugs?"

"Not drugs. Combat stimulants." He raised his head the same way Yang did whenever she suddenly remembered something. "No more drugs. Not this; it's natural."

Ruby crossed her arms. She wasn't sure what he was on about, but it made a kind of sense. He was the last person in her mind to use bad things like drugs for fun. On the battlefield though, the lines between good and bad always blurred. "If it doesn't addict…did Onyx teach you this?"

"No," Will said, carefully flattening the Valerian rose with the handle of his knife. "They taught us to avoid eating it. Ancilla taught me."

"Ah…" Suddenly, Ruby didn't know what to say anymore. There were all sorts of rules and customs when talking about your late loved ones. How did those apply to Will, if at all? "She liked plants?" Immediately after saying that, she felt her cheeks sting. That had to be the stupidest question ever…

"She did," Will replied, oblivious to Ruby's internal struggles. "She always wanted to become a temple maiden, back in Mistral. Taught herself about all sorts of plants and their properties. This one?" He reached for one of the purple flowers and presented it to her with a sly smile. "If you infuse it with Dust, powder and solute it, it increases clotting and response to injuries. We often used it to stop bleeding, both internal and external."

…yay? "Are you…going to be needing that as well?"

Will shrugged. "Maybe. My Semblance isn't very stable right now and without my Aura, I don't want to risk it."

"Do you have to go?" Ruby quietly asked. "Can't you stay? Or at least ask us for help?"

He sighed. "I wish I could. I don't want to risk any of you getting hurt, and-"

The wind died down and in that instant, Ruby heard the sound of metal ticking against rock. Four years of training at Signal Academy, further driven by a sense of ingrained paranoia, forced her to look for the source of the sound. She spotted five soldiers clad in white and blue armour, with silver rifles in their hands.

She only had a heartbeat of time to recognize them as Atlas military before they all raised their weapons and opened fire.

Ruby immediately drew on her Semblance and grabbed Will by his waist, right as one of the projectiles blasted the glass bowl out of his hands.

He wasn't heavy, but still not easy to take with her. Ruby grunted with exertion as she pulled her friend out of the line of fire, flash-stepping half a dozen meter deeper into the garden and dropping him off at a safe spot.

His response was as immediate as it was heart-wrenching. "Don't worry, I won't let them hurt you."

Even though they had to be after him, he still thought about her. The look of clear, innocent surprise on his face filled her heart with an anger and fury she had not felt in a long time. It wasn't fair. It wasn't right! "No, you stay here," she told him, determination slipping into her voice. "I'll take care of them."

This time, _she_ wouldn't let them hurt _him._

No Crescent Rose, no other weapons, no time. No problem. She left Will sitting in the safe spot of the garden and then charged up her Semblance, readying herself for what could not be anything but a perfect maneuver. She had to hit all five of them with enough force to set them up for more hits, otherwise they would probably shoot her a lot. Her Aura could only handle so much.

She kept that thought in the back of her mind and kicked off, leaving a whirling cloud of dust and leaves behind her. Her heart hammered in her chest, her hands were clenched into fists. Within a flash of a moment, the first Atlas soldier came into view. She permitted herself a little grin, her teeth still firmly clenched together, as she impacted on him.

Ruby hit the man from the side, speed and force carrying the two of them much farther than was intended for the garden. They smashed soldier-first through the wall, easily shattering it.

 _One down_.

Ruby rolled off of his unconscious body and jumped out the hole. By then, the other soldiers realized what had hit them and they all turned towards her direction.

Ruby let them. They wouldn't get a hit in anyway.

Blue bolts of energy impacted around her and she immediately triggered her Semblance again, launching herself at the next one. Within a heartbeat she had crossed the distance between herself and the trigger-happy enemy, turning all of her speed and force into a kick that was aimed squarely at his face. The impact shattered the helmet and knocked him right on his behind, but Ruby wasn't done. She allowed her speed to carry her through and she flipped through the air, landing with both of her boots on top of his chest.

 _Two down._

At that point, their aim started getting better. Something impacted on the ground right next to the soldier and Ruby yelped in surprise when a round tore a hole through her cloak, before quickly diving for safety. That they would risk shooting their own comrades! Who were these people? Why were they attacking them like this?

And why hadn't anyone shown up to investigate the noises already!

Ruby calmed her heart and ignored the feelings of exhaustion that were creeping up on her. It had been a long day and using her Semblance like this took more from her than she had thought. She better wrap this up fast.

Three left. While hiding underneath the bushes, Ruby saw them spread out to search for her, rifles readied. She really, really hoped that they would spread out more and she really, _really_ hoped that Will would stay put. The last thing that Beacon needed right now was Atlas blood spilled by former Onyx. She might get away with it. He wouldn't.

One of the soldiers came close to her hiding spot, and she struck like lightning. She drove her entire body behind her fist and hit him in his stomach. The man -that was what Ruby assumed at least- grunted and staggered backwards, but he couldn't get his rifle up in time before Ruby followed up with an uppercut underneath his helmet. When he lost his footing, Ruby dove underneath his rifle and whirled around him, coming out near his back. She then jumped up and, using his shoulders as leverage, wrapped her legs around his neck and _pulled_.

The soldier came crashing down to the ground, helmet-first. She bashed her knee against his face just to be certain.

Damn soldiers. Whether it was Onyx or Atlas, the military always caused problems!

Gunfire erupted a dozen meters away from her, and she immediately ducked low. But the gunfire was almost immediately cut off with a ragged scream and Ruby's heart nearly skipped a beat.

They had found him.

She immediately rushed towards the origin of the scream, hoping that Will had enough sense to not commit murders on Beacon grounds. Even a pledge of self-defense would be completely thrown out the window if the results were lethal -everybody knew that beating your opponent without killing them was the better, but more difficult solution.

"Will," Ruby yelled when she emerged at the point of conflict. "Stop!"

It didn't look like he heard her. One soldier lay on the ground, his arms positioned in cringe-inducing ways. His armour looked crumpled around his chest, like someone had viciously mauled it. The other had been taken in an arm- or shoulder-lock, fallen to his knees with a knife pressed against his throat.

Ruby quickly took in the details of the scene, and it was not pretty. It didn't even look like the soldier was still conscious. She guessed that was a good thing, as he would have sheared his throat apart against the cold steel had he done so. That, or his arm would have been ruined beyond repair.

"But they attacked us," he growled. "They are threats. Threats get -yes, I know that."

Ruby looked over her shoulder to see who he was talking to, because it wasn't her. "Ehm…Will? Do you…you hearing me?"

It sure didn't look like that. He didn't as much as _look_ at her general direction. "They attacked _her_ as well. They deserve –" he cut himself off with a mighty sigh. "Fine."

Then, he actually took the knife away from the man's throat and placed it back in his sheath. The soldier fell to the ground, unconscious but alive, saved due to the conversation that Will had had in his head.

With a real, moral person. A fabrication of his own mind would have never, ever allowed him to let an enemy soldier live. No way.

"What was that about?" Ruby asked when he knelt down next to the fallen Atlesian soldier, taking his scroll from his pocket.

He didn't answer. He kept his gaze solely at the scroll as he rapidly flicked through its contents. Why couldn't they just have nice things? Gathering flowers in the garden, having a nice talk. It always had to turn bloody.

"Will?"

"Hmm?"

"You ehm…you didn't kill them."

"No."

Yep. He had willingly made the choice to withhold his lethal response. "I'm really glad you didn't, I really am, but…why didn't you?"

"Because she asked me not to."

 _She_. The mysterious 'partner'. The girl who had committed suicide a year ago, when he went missing. She was constantly on his mind, but never like this. A dead girl could not change your core values. Will did not show mercy to his opponents, especially not, Ruby had to admit with a small sense of pride, those who he had come to care about. Heck, not even she had managed to change his mind about that. The only logical explanation had to be the most illogical one. If that was a word.

"But…but there's nobody around," Ruby weakly said. "I mean…right?" Unless she was invisible. But Ruby didn't believe that a Semblance existed that could keep someone completely invisible and inaudible. "I don't see her."

"True. We never met face-to-face either."

…what? "Excuse me?"

He stood and pocketed the Scroll. "It's a long story. You wouldn't believe it."

Ruby glanced at the fallen bodies of the Atlesian soldiers who had, until a few minutes ago, been their important allies and protectors of the city in the wake of the Grimm assault. "I guess my thoughts about what to believe and what not to have just been widened. Again."

"Hmm. It's akin to the ancient ritual of Bonding between two warriors, preferably of opposite genders. Except more intimate, more painful and more permanent than deemed possible, or moral."

Ruby frowned. "Wait, what do you mean-?"

His answer had to wait. Finally, someone had noticed the violence and noises that had been shaking up the night and several people came running around the corner of the gardens, among who were Professors Adamant and Oobleck, as well as Professor Goodwitch.

Ruby cursed her bad luck and their even worse timing, and turned to face them. "Professors!"

"Miss Rose," Goodwitch sharply said. "What on Remnant is going on here!"

"Ehm..." Ruby glanced over her shoulder at the unconscious bodies of the Atlas soldiers. Will was nowhere to be seen. Of course. "These soldiers attacked me and a friend of mine. We defended ourselves, but we didn't kill anyone! I swear!"

"Hah," Professor Adamant said, crossing his arms. "Where is your weapon?"

"I…I didn't have it with me."

Oobleck nodded. ´You were forced to defend yourself at such a short notice that you had no time to call your weapon to you. Indeed, the gunshots must have been from these soldiers." He paused. "Where is this friend of yours?"

"He kind of left." Goodwitch's eyes narrowed and Ruby nervously reached for the edge of her cloak. Perhaps that had been a bit too much. Holding the truth for Professors…it was a bad habit. "Probably to get help for these guys. They're pretty beat up."

Professor Adamant looked past her as well, taking in the sight of the unconscious bodies. "Does that one have two broken arms?"

Ruby felt her cheeks sting with heat. "I guess." She was so, _so_ glad that Will hadn't killed any of them.

"We should immediately search the area," Oobleck suggested. "Glynda, I think you should talk to Ozpin. Matthew, you should inform the General that there was an incident with his troops.'

"Oh yeah," the Adamant replied, the corners of his mouth pulling up in a wide grin. "I'm right on it."

"And you Miss Rose. You should really come with me."

Ruby sighed. She had the feeling that Oobleck knew precisely who she had been spending the past few combat-filled minutes with. "Yes Professor."

"Doctor."

"Yes doctor."

Why couldn't nice things just last?

~0~

It was relatively early in the morning when Weiss found herself gently being woken by a certain redheaded teammate of her, who had tenderly placed her hands on her shoulders and subsequently shaken her until she opened her eyes.

"R-ruby?" Weiss said, suppressing a yawn. She was well aware that her nightgown didn't sit properly, but at this moment, she didn't really care. "What are you…?" Her Scroll said that it was only seven in the morning. Well an hour or two before Frist would arrive, let alone before team JNPR would have their fight. "So early…"

"I need to talk to you," Ruby hurried to say. Her serious tone and solemn eyes did more to wake Weiss than any bucket of water or alarm clock ever could, and she sat up.

"What's wrong?"

"I -one moment." She picked up one of the pillows on Weiss' bed and threw it at Blake's head. "Blaaake! I know you're up. You need to hear this."

The Faunus grumpily rose as well, her two purple ears looking especially fluffy this morning. " _What?"_ She growled. She was not a very good morning person.

"I was attacked by Atlas soldiers yesterday!"

That got her attention alright. Her eyes widened and, without saying a word, she threw the pillow at Yang's head.

It didn't wake her up though. The three other pillows that struck her directly in her face did, and she nearly jumped out of her bed.

"W-what! Who -why?"

"Morning Yang," Ruby said before the blonde could speak her indignation. "I was just about to tell the story of how Atlas soldiers attacked Will and me."

"What!?" Yang shouted, throwing the blanket off her body and jumping out of her bed. She had always been a morning person. "What happened? Are you alright? Is he?"

"I'm fine," Ruby replied. "I kicked their butts before they could hurt him. There were only five. Goodwitch, Matt and Oobleck showed up right after, too."

"But Atlas soldiers?" Blake asked. "Why would they?"

"Gee," Yang replied, not without sarcasm. "I wonder why the Atlesian soldiers would target Will? But Ruby, why you?"

Ruby shrugged. "Beats me. Oobleck wanted to talk to me immediately afterwards, so I didn't see what happened to them. I guess they were punished?"

Blake sighed and crossed her arms. "I hope the General didn't allow this."

"He better not," Yang growled. "I'm going to rip his head off if he did!"

Her anger was not misplaced. Even though Yang held lots of people dear, Ruby and Will held special places in her heart. An attack on both of them at the same time? It was a wonder that she was still acting as calm as she did.

"I don't think that will be good for international relationships," Ruby said. "Oobleck assured me that this wouldn't happen again and that Ironwood would never allow his men to just start a firefight on Beacon Grounds."

"And…are you very sure that they started it?" Blake then asked, very cautiously. "You were with Will the entire time?"

"Not appreciating that thought there, Blake."

"I´m sorry Yang, but would it surprise you if he aggravated them in some way first?"

Actually, Weiss would be surprised. Every lethal action he had taken in the past had always been in response to the hostility of others. At least, those that they knew of.

"He was picking flowers," Ruby said, confirming Weiss' thoughts. "I don't know if you're supposed to plunder the gardens, but it can't really be a capital crime."

Weiss groaned and slumped down in her bed again. "So let me get this straight! Apart from the White Fang, random terrorists and mercenaries, Onyx soldiers and foreign students, we now have to add the Atlesian military to our list of people to watch out for?"

Silence fell after that comment, which was broken by Yang shortly thereafter. "Pretty much."

"It's not all bad," Ruby said, likely trying to sound reassuring. "Will had a pretty moment of mercy. Nobody died, so…yay?"

In fact, that really was a relief. This situation would have been ten times worse if Will had murdered those soldiers. General Ironwood would have most likely tried to arrest him then and…there.

Oh.

A horrible thought formed itself in Weiss' mind, and she felt a chill run down her spine. "Do you…suppose that the General really would execute them if he arrested them…wouldn't he need a clear crime to convict them of?"

"Crimes enough," Blake replied. "He can warrant an arrest using only Onyx' existence as motivation."

"Yes, true, but what would he had done if Will had murdered his troops before Ruby could stop them? Wouldn't that be a good reason to arrest him?"

"You'd still have Ruby as a witness to self-defense," Yang replied. She tried to look relaxed, but it didn't really work all that well. Her eyes were filled with worry. "It wouldn't have worked."

"Yeah," Ruby said, not too enthusiastically. "Unless I happened to be somewhere else. Look, Oobleck said that Ozpin would go after this. I really, really hope that this was just…just some misunderstanding. Will isn't with Onyx anymore, but even if they're after him at all…"

"Beacon wouldn't stand for that."

"It was a good thing you were there!" Weiss then exclaimed. "If you hadn't, they would have made the arrest then and there. With the offense of lethal force against one of their soldiers, it would be too easy to convict him."

"He would slaughter their entire task force to escape," Blake quietly said.

Ruby looked away. "And we would have another war at our hands."

"It'd make the Luna-Arcadia incident look tame."

It fell silent again and this time, Yang didn't seem to have anything to say to break it.

So their team leader took it upon them to do so. "Yup," Ruby said, rising to her feet and snatching her cloak from her bed. "So I think Headmaster will want to talk to us after this again."

"We do seem to visit his office a lot," Blake weakly replied. "Aren't you worried about more attacks?"

"Of course not," Ruby cheerfully said, probably disturbing the truth somewhat. "I have you guys. If I can fight five of them without my weapon, we could probably take on an army."

"I wouldn't go _that_ far," Weiss remarked. She glanced at her scroll again, hoping that there was still enough time to refresh and dress up. "Ah…Ruby? Remember what we talked about in in the forest?"

"Ehm…yeah?"

Apparently, Winter came sooner than expected. "I need you with me at the docks. Just…just in case."

Ruby nodded. "Sure. Gimme a moment."

"You two going off on another adventure?" Yang asked.

Weiss shot an annoyed look her way. "Official business is more like it."

"Sure. Guess I have official business too. Except my official business is going to leave Beacon pretty soon." She sighed and lay back on the bed. "Ruby, I swear if another Atlesian solder even _looks_ funny at you, they're going to need more recruits."

"Noted."

It didn't take long for them to get dressed after that. Now that they were all awake, it was no use going back to sleep again.

Ruby and Weiss both took their weapons with them. Even if it was just Winter -and later in the morning, Frost- she wasn't going to risk anything. The fact that a group of Atlesian men had tried to kill Ruby and Will was _not_ something that Weiss was willing to just overlook. So with that kept firmly in the back of her mind, Weiss kept her hand on the pommel of Myrtenaster all the way to the docking bays.

Sure enough, after several minutes, a large Atlas ship approached the bays, swiftly touching down and opening its doors.

The docking bays were mostly devoid of people who could intrude on their privacy, for which Weiss was thankful. Nevertheless, she felt nervous. How was she going to carry herself? How was she supposed to act?

"So this is your sister?" Ruby curiously asked as the older Schnee exited the ship, followed by a group of those Atlesian Knight robots. She held her head high and her arms behind her back, giving off a regal appearance.

"Yes," Weiss replied, hurrying to meet her sister. "Winter! I'm -it's good to see you!"

Winter looked around, taking in the environment that her ship had dropped her off into. It was almost as if she could sense the things that had taken place on this campus. "Beacon…it's been a long time. The air feels…different."

"I guess we have some…different people currently attending here," Ruby said.

Weiss glared at Ruby, silently telling her to keep her mouth shut and let her do the talking. She did _not_ want to drop the fact that she had affiliated herself with what had to be the SDC's worst enemy since the White Fang just yet. "I take it your on official business?"

Winter nodded. "That's cla-"

Weiss rolled with her eyes. "Classified. Yes, I have heard that before. Developed an allergy to that word as well. I take it that the duration of your stay here is also a military secret?"

Her sister raised an eyebrow at that comment. Never before had Weiss talked to her like that and it showed in her response. "As a matter of fact, it is."

Of course. Well, Winter hadn't responded with animosity, so that was a good thing. "I understand." Still, it was very difficult to keep the conversation going without immediately introducing Ruby. How was she going to do this, even? That she had found a girlfriend, who was also the leader of her team? A girl whom she had had an exceedingly intimate experience with just last night? The thought of accidentally blurting it out mortified her.

No, it was better to stay with the things that gave her confidence. "I think you will find that Beacon handles its matters different than Atlas does. This Academy enjoys a…certain freedom of choices."

Winter nodded. "I am more than familiar with how this Kingdom handles its bureaucracy, Weiss."

A little condescending undertone. That was alright. She had learned how to handle that. "Bureaucracy has become harder to take care of since most of the government officials were murdered, months ago. It is the sole reason why Beacon has been able to _function_ as it did." Weiss didn't know which frightened her more: telling her sister about Onyx or telling her sister about Ruby. She was slowly leading the conversation towards one of those dreadful subjects, but she wasn't too sure which one

"Yes, the lack of red tape makes it easier to handle decisions. That is not why I came here, however."

Weiss crossed her wrists behind her back, imitating her sister. "Heightened security, I suppose. Things have been hectic lately." Classified…each time Will had uttered that word, she had been furious that she would be left completely out of the loop. He, and Frost probably too, knew so much about what happened in Remnant. They were there, they did things. This time however, Weiss would not be brushed aside in the matter of knowledge. Her sister no longer held that privilege. "I understand that General Ironwood has a need for security, especially now that Onyx lies so near. The skirmishes must cause _such_ an amount of paperwork."

Winter scowled. "There are some things you shouldn't talk about, even if you saw it used in the news. The nature of that… that _organization_ is well beyond your understanding, Weiss."

Ruby chuckled. "I wouldn't exactly say that…"

Weiss raised her head. "We've had extensive experience with Onyx, here at Beacon. But I wager you are not interested in that. So why are you here?"

Winter shook her head. "Your manners have turned rather abysmal. I did not come here to _argue_ with you, especially not after your performance in the Tournament."

What? "Performance? But we won!"

"Only a novice would call that a victory. I counted at least two missed opportunities to strike."

"Really?" Weiss said, crossing her arms. "Lack of hesitation and lethal intent are things that have been seen too _much_ at Beacon lately." A fight without perfect efficiency was exactly what everybody with a functioning code of morality wanted to see.

Had someone else not missed the opportunities to strike, Winter most likely wouldn't have been here. She would have been dealing with the aftermath of an Operative attack on five so-called 'Atlesian soldiers'.

Really, she couldn't thank Ruby enough for making it out of there not only without harm, but also without any political fallout. Possibly, Ruby had prevented a war from breaking out there.

Winter glanced at Weiss for a few seconds, perhaps observing her to see why it was that she spoke so vehemently all of a sudden. "Leave us," she told the robots, who obeyed and took two large steps backwards. "Come. How have you been?"

Weiss quickly followed her sister, who started walking down the paved path towards the entrance of the Academy. "I have been splendid lately, thank you for asking. I have accumulated a lot of combat experience and our team dynamic is top of the rank."

"I don't recall asking about your _experience_ ," Winter said with a light chuckle. "I'm asking how you've _been_. Are you eating properly? Have you taken up any new hobbies? Have you made new friends?"

Of course she had made friends. Among them was a former Onyx child soldier notoriously known for his large list of kills. Probably not what Winter had in mind. In fact, this was the exact moment that she had been waiting for. Introduce Ruby without looking suspicious. "Winter, I want you to meet Ruby."

Winter glanced at Ruby, analyzing her appearance with cold eyes. "I see. So this is the leader of your team. Not what I had thought."

Ruby nervously laughed. "Uh…thank you."

"Greetings Ruby Rose. I wish to thank you for taking an interest in my sister."

Weiss blushed and immediately averted her face. An interest…hah! What did she think she was talking about?

"Interest?" Ruby repeated with a higher-pitched voice than was normal for her. "No interest. Just a healthy…normal…interest."

Weiss uttered a low groan when she heard her partner respond like that. Was it _so_ difficult to keep a normal composure in a dire situation such as this?

Luckily, Winter did not comment on Ruby's…Rubyness. "I have business with the General and your headmaster. But, seeing as I'm early, why don't you take me to your quarters?"

Her quarters? "Why my quarters?"

The androids followed them with an acceptable distance as the three of them approached Beacon. "Yes. I wish to inspect them and make sure that they are up to my standards."

Her standards. In the North, Weiss had slept on metal floors and wooden piles of rubble. If team RWBY's quarters weren't up to Winter's standards, something had to be amiss. "I see. Just so you're aware, the bunk beds only _look_ unstable."

"Bunk beds?"

Weiss caught movement at her left, and she glanced away from her older sister, purely to see if there were any other of the Atlesian Knights that her sister had taken with her.

Her breathing hitched and her hand immediately went for Myrtenaster. There, garbed in normal clothes and armed with his signature weapon, stood Frost.

The excommunicated Schnee gave her an extremely-short look, as if he didn't even want to acknowledge her existence. Then his gaze shifted towards Winter and he started walking after them.

Weiss was torn between horror at what was about to transpire and sheer frustration at the stupid coincidence that he would show up _now_ of all times. What should she do? Should she interfere? "Ruby, what-"

"Just let it happen, I guess," her partner replied, her tone marred by uncertainty. She was clearly wrestling with the same problem.

Hearing them talk, Winter turned around and looked at Frost. "Who might you be?" she asked, not unkindly.

"I believe your General refers to us as 'Onyx'."

Weiss groaned at that spectacular lack of subtlety. What was he even trying to accomplish here?

A scowl fell over her sister's features. "I have no patience for you people," Winter said, before turning around to head towards Beacon again. All traces and semblances of kindness had disappeared, replaced by a rough, cold voice that Weiss knew her sister only reserved for the worst of scum.

Somehow, that made this even harder.

Frost responded by grabbing one of the robots that was accompanying her and ripping out a vital piece of tech in its neck-region, allowing the now-useless piece of tech to fall to the ground. "Winter Schnee."

His voice sounded like a growl. Rough, gravelly. Not at all like the boy Weiss used to know. Even worse, when he raised his head speaking to Winter, he exposed his throat. A mass of scar tissue, with thick ropey lines and dark blotches covering it.

Winter whirled around when she heard her name, placing her hand on the pommel of her weapon. One of the automated soldiers lifted its weapon, but she quickly raised her hand to stop it. "What are you-" her eyes shifted from the discarded robot to Frost's pale face, whereupon they flashed with recognition. " _You._ "

Frost's face was like a mask, hiding the turmoil that he had to be feeling behind perfect blankness. And also a little bit of a sneer, if Weiss saw it right. She wasn't sure. "Guess it didn't take you long to forget about me. Weeks? A month?"

"And it didn't take you long to turn on our family, did it, traitor?" Winter snapped at him, pulling out her weapon.

She wouldn't.

"You get used to shedding blood after a few years. Of course, it's in _our_ blood as well, isn't it?"

Would she? "Frost," Weiss said, trying to prevent things from escalating. "Winter, this is not how we should behave!"

"Not all of us are sociopathic barbarians, Onyx. That's only you." Her sister didn't even _listen_ to her.

"You stubborn brat. The Company is led by corrupted morons. Your soldiers are animals in disguise and the man you are so slavishly whoring out to is a catalyst for disaster! Who is the-"

"Enough!" Winter shouted. "One more word out of you and I will-"

"Do what?" Frost interrupted her. Much to Weiss' dismay, he started closing in the distance that safely separated them. "Hand me over to Ironwood? Or the old man himself? Or will you take justice into your own hands? _You?_ "

"Frost!" Weiss shouted.

"Maybe he can give me the same scar that he gave his little princess-"

That comment was the last straw for Winter. She gave a cry of anger and indignation and, aiming her sword at his face, lunged for her nephew.

Frost must have anticipated her reaction. Perhaps he had deliberately provoked her into attacking. Whatever it was, his response was immediate and lightning-fast. He whipped out his own weapon and, holding it in one hand, deflected Winter's first strike. He then immediately went on the counterattack, stabbing at Winter's face before ducking low and taking a swipe at her stomach.

The Atlesian Knights around them immediately took aim, but they never got a chance to fire. Both Winter as Frost were exceptionally fast with their weapons and strikes, but Frost had the edge in ranged combat. His weapon had always seemed like an odd one to Weiss, especially the first time he had ever used it. It was basically a large rifle that could be turned into a shovel, but one with razor-sharp edges. And it seemed to be capable of firing its rounds while in that form, as Frost slammed his weapon against Winter's sword and blasted one of the Knights through its head.

Weiss wanted to interfere, but how? She had been the one to call Frost here, she had been the one to make him risk visiting Beacon now. But she also didn't want to turn against her sister. She loved Winter, and she would never want to see something happen to her!

And however much she hated herself for it, she knew that Frost could take more than Winter could. Whatever she could do to stop him, he had taken much worse before. And he had more training than Winter had, which would make this fight one-sided in his favor.

But that was no reason to try to hurt him when there were other possibilities. Unfortunately for them both, no such reasons were visible at the moment.

Their fight escalated into collateral damage. The ground cracked and shattered underneath their blows and the Atlesian Knights couldn't get a clear shot in. Before they could reposition and interfere, Frost had sent a round through each of their heads, putting them out of commission.

Winter drew her sword back and slashed at Frost's chest, but he whirled around the attack and kicked at her side, sending her stumbling backwards.

His left arm hung at his side, unused. Was he holding back or did he seek to prove that he could win one-handed? Then why not simply keep it behind his back? What was he doing?

Winter brushed a strand of white hair out of her face and summoned a massive glyph behind her, which she used to conjure dozens of glowing birds. They flew out of the glyph like snowflakes in a storm, circling wider and wider until their master gave them the sign to attack

Frost didn't hesitate a second and jumped several meters back. He assumed a martial arts stance that was nothing like Winter's and prepared himself for the brunt of the attack.

"Why doesn't he just shoot them out of the air?" Ruby asked. She didn't seem too worried that two of Weiss' family members were trying to kill each other. "He's taking a lot of risk."

That he did. Dozens of frozen-hard projectiles surged past his body at speeds that would knock the teeth out of an Ursa and he only barely managed to cut them out of the sky when they approached his face. Hard-pressed as he was, using both of his arms would have solved this without incident. Why did he insist on fighting like this?

As the last conjured bird dissipated, Winter lunged for him, shattering the ground underneath her feet as she did.

Frost managed to side-step her attack and tried to go for her throat, but Winter immediately drew back and stabbed at his face again, several times in rapid succession. Frost deflected each attack with increasing difficulty, until the last one hit him on his right shoulder. His Aura took the worst of the attack and at that moment, Winter hesitated.

And Frost struck. He kicked at the back of Winter's knee and drove his elbow against her face, knocking her back.

The doors at the far end of what had now become a Schnee orientated battlefield were flung open and General Ironwood emerged, together with two groups of soldiers.

Winter struggled to recompose herself and Frost didn't allow her to. He advanced on her and lashed out at her head again, forcing Winter to eject the other sword from her sheath. The brief moment of confusion at Frost's end was enough for her to both protect herself as push her attacker back again, battering his weapon aside while stabbing at his stomach with the second weapon.

Frost narrowly managed to avoid getting hit again, jumping back as the point of Winter's weapon tore through his clothes.

Winter did not let up. She gave a cry of fury and pressed the attack, performing several repeated slashes aimed at his midsection. As the tip of her first sword passed through the air in front of him, he intercepted her follow-up strike with his own weapon and stepped so close to Winter that she couldn't properly use her weapons to repel him.

His knee came up and Weiss winced, watching her older sister double over.

Still not using his other arm, Frost dropped his weapon and grabbed a fistful of Winter's hair, pulling her head down while jumping up, driving his knee against her face. Only her Aura saved her from the worst of that attack and it was that display of savagery that made Weiss decide that enough was enough.

"Stop!" she snapped. She deliberately let Myrtenaster in its sheath and rushed forwards, grabbing a hold of Frost's shoulder. The skin underneath his clothes felt cold and exceptionally hard. Where his collar bone was supposed to meet his shoulder blades, there was just a smooth surface. "Enough!"

Her cousin gave her a look of anger and annoyance, while Winter quickly hopped back to her feet. She didn't use that opening to continue her attack.

"Father did not give me _that_ scar," Weiss quietly continued, glancing at her older sister.

"Indeed," a hard voice said. "Enough is enough. Frost Schnee, I presume?" It was General Ironwood, calmly walking over the shattered ground with his hands folded behind his back. A delegation of soldiers followed him, of which not a single one was currently not aiming a gun at her cousin's head. "I'm taking you into custody."

Frost rolled with his eyes. "Of course. On what charges?"

"Try war crimes," Ironwood sharply replied. "Add to that an unprovoked attack on my associate, destruction of Atlas military property and illegal entry to Beacon."

Frost slowly and deliberately crouched down and picked up his weapon, an action that was accompanied by the sounds of a dozen safeties being clicked off. Even the General pulled out a gun, aiming it squarely at his face.

"You're in deep trouble," Ironwood softly said. "So give me a reason."

Frost wasn't faced with the prospect of a firing squad taking aim at his head. He calmly strapped his weapon to its holsters on his back, giving Weiss a good look at his right hand. Just like the left one, it was hidden underneath a white glove. Even she had never worn gloves to school. Why would he?

"I'm thinking you don't need one," he softly replied. At that, three soldiers rushed forwards and roughly jerked his hands behind his back, causing Frost to grimace with pain and discomfort.

"Good job Schnee," the General remarked.

Winter looked at Weiss with a hint of unease. She hadn't expected his outcome? "But sir, I wasn't here to-"

"General," a friendly and recognizable voice spoke. All present Schnees, as well as Ironwood and Ruby, turned to look at the newcomer.

"Ozpin."

"Headmaster!" Ruby squealed with delight. "This isn't-"

Ozpin cast her a look, quietly telling her to be silent. "When I saw you in public in the presence of Miss Rose, I was delighted. Did you offer her your official apology yet?"

Ironwood crossed his arms. "Because a band of rogue men claiming to be Atlesian attacked her?"

He didn't know about Will's involvement in that attack? Good. Perhaps they could get some leverage out of it.

"Because a group of Atlas soldiers whom you could not pick identify as the enemy nearly killed a student on my grounds, James. Did you apprehend them yet?"

"No, I was-"

"Then I suppose you could pay them a visit. It seems like you are heading towards our holding cells already."

The sky was slowly turning dark as large clouds were slowly blotting out the sun. A thunderstorm was about to break loose. Awfully fitting for how Weiss currently felt.

"Ozpin, Frost Schnee is an international-sought fugitive and criminal. He belongs in an Atlas high-security prison. His presence here even confirms that."

"I invited Frost here today, _sir,"_ Weiss firmly said, placing her hands on her hips and glaring at the General. "As a member of the Schnee family, it is his right to be here!"

"He does not have any rights, Miss Schnee," Ironwood heartlessly said. "He gave up his rights when he started savaging warzones."

Ruby scraped her throat, folding her hands behind her back in the exact same manner as the General did. "Actually, Atlas has no jurisdiction in Vale to make an arrest, especially at Beacon Grounds. Ozpin vowed to protect the victims of Onyx. Didn't you, Headmaster?"

"I am sure I did," Ozpin replied with a hint of amusement. "As I said General, I will see you to the brig to interrogate the men that Miss Rose so valiantly brought in."

Ruby nodded and Weiss quickly saw that, if looks could kill, Ironwood would have slaughtered them all. He glared at Frost, who was casually observing his feet. "Very well. Please see me to the holding cells. I will decide what to do from there."

"Guess you got overruled by a bunch of kids," Frost nastily said, voicing the one thought that everybody had but nobody would speak. He seemed to have a habit of saying things that could get him in trouble.

Ironwood raised his hand as if to smack him across the face, but then slowly lowered it again. "I hope you still feel so confident when you are facing a court of justice." He gestured at his men and the group marched off back towards the Academy, with Frost in tow.

Shame and embarrassment were probably the closest to what Weiss felt at that moment. She had called her cousin here to talk, perhaps for her own gain, about the truth. He had come here alone, trusting her that nothing would happen, and then this happened? Perhaps he was to blame for the fight with Winter, but to be immediately arrested and tossed in the holding cells by a General of a different Kingdom?

The same man whose troops had assaulted Ruby with lethal intent? She wouldn't have it. She wouldn't have any of it. "What crime did he commit?" she demanded.

"Weiss," Winter softly replied. "Perhaps now is not the time to-"

"No! What crime did Frost commit to be treated like this? Was being kidnapped by the White Fang at the age of eight a crime, Winter?" Her sister looked away. "Was being recruited into Onyx, away from their abuse, also a crime? Is trying to stop wars and put an end to dangerous people a crime, Headmaster?"

"Of course not," Ozpin calmly said. "Miss Schnee, you need to understand that things aren't so simple."

"Oh?" In way did that convince her. "So trying to preserve the national peace is a crime then? Because the way I see it, the General and his soldiers who nearly killed Ruby are being treated more humane than the boy who was forced to kill for global peace and sanity. A boy who _I_ invited to Beacon. Sir."

Drops of rain landed on Weiss' head. Slowly, the air grew humid and wet. s

The Headmaster sighed and touched his glasses with his index and middle finger, carefully pushing them further up. "I shall not pretend to understand the full ramifications of the way Onyx has been treading on Remnant. We are doing everything we can to keep the others safe from countless of people who want justice, or otherwise vengeance for what has been done. But until then, I fear mister Schnee will have to fend for himself."

"But-"

"However," the headmaster sharply added, "It _is_ my understanding that he will be needlessly punished without a due process. Whatever authority the Atlas forces might have, as Miss Winter can testify, it is simply not possible for them to punish an individual without all the bureaucratic processes it entails."

"So can he get a lawyer?" Ruby asked.

The Headmaster shrugged. "Researching his right for a lawyer alone might take several days."

Weiss was starting to understand what was happening. All this time she had thought that bureaucracy was a pain in the behind. Now, it was actually helping them.

"We shouldn't keep standing here in the rain," Winter softly said. She looked paler than normal. Shaken, even.

"Indeed. There are sufficient accommodations at Beacon that would prove to be warmer and more welcoming. In the meantime, I have business to attend to. Miss Schnee?"

"Yes?" Weiss and Winter said at the same time,

Ozpin raised an amused eyebrow. "Welcome to Beacon Academy. I hope your stay here will prove…more fortunate than this informal introduction."

"Thank you, Headmaster," Winter replied, looking no less troubled as she did. "It appears my sister and I have a lot to talk about."

That they most certainly had. Probably not in the way Winter expected. For the very first time since…well, forever, Weiss had the feeling that she knew more than her older sister did. She had always thought that the feeling would be more grandeur than this. It was no less important though.

The rain slowly grew more intense, until it was literally pouring from the sky. Ruby drew her hood over her head and gestured at the entrance. "Guess there are some warmer places to stay, huh?"

The cold, yes…Weiss wondered how much It bothered Frost. She really wanted to believe that he had experienced much, much worse than the General could ever do to him, but this wasn't exactly the type of weather to grant one hopeful thoughts. At least Ironwood would be too troubled with this specific side of Onyx to focus on the other side. A conflict with Frost Schnee was one thing. A conflict with a less rational -or more violent- person would be a completely different thing.

She supposed she had to teach Winter that too. "I guess so. I'm sorry to drag you into this, Ruby. I thought meeting up with my sister would be a good thing and that talking to Frost could help me understand…"

"Oh well. Technically nothing went wrong with that. It just sort of…happened at the same time. Bad timing."

Yes, Weiss supposed that was true. A very bad timing.

Steadily, the rain grew worse.

* * *

 **Beacon outer wall**

 **1 hour later**

Ashen-black, silvery-gray, mint-green. Even through the dripping-wet window, there was no mistake.

' _These are the ones?'_ Ancilla quietly remarked. ' _Are you sure?'_

"Positive," Will replied, watching the trio leave for their dorms. The rain that poured from the sky had soaked him to the bone, and he was glad to be moving soon. The Beacon outfit had absolutely zero protection against the elements. "It's them."

' _To think they are just walking around the campus like that…it is disgusting.'_

"I know." He had seen them, months ago, when he had attempted to infiltrate their group to learn more about their motivations. To identify and neutralize their leaders. And they had not forgotten him either. They had come for him, on the night that everybody he cared for had gone into town on their own searches.

 _Silence is golden, speaking is silver._

Neither the prospect of death nor that of pain had fazed him. He had laughed at their threat of vengeance enacted on the citizens of Vale. He had threatened her, Cinder, hoping that she would end his life for him. It hadn´t gone like that.

Instead of ending him, they had promised to go after Yang and Ruby if he ever revealed their secret to anyone. How could he not have kept his mouth shut after that?

' _But even so, they deserve a chance. You know everybody does.'_

Will shifted his left arm to his right, gripping onto another protruding stone and pushing himself past the window. "They are too dangerous to live. You saw those soldiers. They're with her. Who knows who else she compromised."

' _So how will you explain three dead bodies? It is better to attempt to reason with them. Give them a chance.'_

During his hunt with Alice in the forest, Ancilla had taken her time to reflect on this problem. Cinder Fall. Mercury Black. Emerald Sustrai. Planning to partake in the Vytal Festival, planning on causing carnage even worse than the Breach. They were a threat to everyone, but he couldn't care less about everyone and he loved Yang and Ruby. But Cinder had bribed, blackmailed and otherwise corrupted a large group of Atlesian soldiers to fight at her side. She could not be allowed to live.

Those five at the gardens last night were probably only the beginning. Everybody was a threat yet again.

It was amusing. The wars and the nonstop violence had pushed him to an edge of hatred that he could only direct at those around him. The living, the naïve. Those who thrived on his blood. Ancilla should have been the same. But even with the nigh-unbearable memories of the war, she retained that mercy of hers. That desire to protect and forgive. She would have been a fine shrine maiden, had Onyx not put a brutal stop to that path.

A flash of thunder illuminated the Academy for a split-second, casting long shadows across the ground. It was awfully dark for this hour of the day

"One chance," Will replied, shifting his weight again and hopping over another window. "If they don't leave…"

' _The consequences are theirs.'_

He nodded in agreement, whereupon the jumped towards the next section of the wall. Memories of the things he had done in life were like a fading dream, constantly falling away from his grasp just before he could attain them. There were fade traces of muscle memory in his body with every movement he made, every limb he moved, but he could not remember where he had learned to do so. Climbing the walls of Beacon Academy was just one instance of a lost memory.

It was not important.

By the time he had reached their window, his fingers had gone numb with cold. He should have enough dexterity left to silently open the window and sneak through though.

He effortlessly slit the tip of his knife past the wooden exterior of the window and pried it open just enough for his fingers to fit in. Rain and more thunder masked his intrusion and soon, he had created his way in.

Cinder Fall, Mercury Black and Emerald Sustrai. All three of them great threats, all three of them trapped in a confined space with him. There was only one way this could end. Him, standing amidst he bodies with blood on his face.

The thought warmed his body up already.

' _Reason is the voice of peace. Talk to them first. Be better than they are.'_

"I do not believe I granted you permission to enter," Cinder spoke without even bothering to look at him. At her words, both of her allies jumped to their feet and assumed their combat positions. Neither of them attacked.

With the element of surprise gone, Will had to resort to Ancilla's way of reasoning. "Fall." He didn't know the nature of her past as a test subject for Onyx and neither did he care. But he could expect her to hate his guts. The feeling was surely mutual. "You've gone too far."

Emerald and Mercury both moved at the same time. One reached for her weapons, the other tried to attack. In response, Will brought up his arms and prepared to redirect their attacks-

Cinder raised her hand and her two allies immediately put a stop to their actions, jumping backwards to create more distance. She had them completely under her control?

"Not yet. Our Operative bravely put himself in our hands. The least we can do is let him try to speak a few coherent sentences."

' _Someone so beautiful should not be so vicious,'_ Ancilla quietly remarked.

"Your 'team' has gotten itself into the Tournament's schedule," Will told Cinder. No hesitation, no going back. Adrenaline surged through his body and his heart was rattling at the anticipation of the fight. "I don't know what you're doing, but you need to stop."

Cinder smiled and stood up. "Still the loyal dog, I see. Why should I stop? I have yet to get fully started."

She took a step towards him and he stopped himself from stepping back. There was something exciting in her words, in the way she carried herself. Why did her behavior rattle him so much? "Because I say so," he replied with as much authority as he could muster. "Everyone will know who and what you are. Do you think your little plan will work if everyone at Beacon knows your true intentions?"

Her smile faded somewhat, but not entirely. "You won't tell anyone."

Will did not back down and neither would he blink first. "Try me."

Her eyes were filled with fire and malice, brighter than the stars in the sky at night. "I don't have to. I just have to 'try' your friends."

Her words cut through his adrenaline-induced state of mind in an instant. "What?"

Her smile returned. "You found such good friends in little Rose and her big sister. Imagine the horror that would seize the school if someone were to maim the flower in her own room."

A cold pit dropped in Will's stomach and every rational part of his mind fell prey to a wild desire to hurt and kill. Only Ancilla prevented him from attacking, and she could barely restrain him. "You wouldn't dare," he growled.

Now her smile faded completely. "You of all people should know how far one is willing to go for victory."

Self-control was a virtue that Will despised right now. "I'd kill you before you could get close."

"Perhaps. But not before my associates keep you busy long enough for me to assert my point. I could burn her pretty body tonight, and nobody would know who to blame. How old is she? Fifteen?"

Ancilla gasped and Will reeled at her words as if she had stabbed him. "Wait!" he quickly said. "Don't."

Her eyes were filled with a cruel delight as she said, "If you are not willing to beg…"

Will had given up on basic human dignity long ago and as such, he did not hesitate a second. "Don't…don't hurt her. Please."

"That is much better. Don't look at me like that, Will. You know you function at your best when you submit to the authority of others."

He did not respond to that assertion. Mostly because it was true. There was only one condition under which he functioned even better, but she didn't need to know that.

"Now then," Cinder continued. "I will find my own use for you. In the meantime…get out."

The drop of a dozen meters didn't worry him. What these three would think of in the meantime did. And he did not doubt that Cinder would find a use for him.

' _I don't want her to hurt Ruby, or Yang!'_

Back in the same situation as before. They would continue unopposed, without anyone knowing what they were up to. And the blame would be his when their acts resulted in spilled blood.

Will slowly backed away, never taking his eyes off of the woman who now had her in her grip that he could not escape. He didn't know what to do. He just didn't.

' _We cannot let them hurt anyone.'_

No, they couldn't.

Will allowed himself to fall through the window, using the slippery rocks to slow his descent without scraping the flesh from his hands.

' _There is only one thing we can do.'_

No authorities, no warning team RWBY. Cinder Fall could not be given the chance to hurt them.

Now he knew what to do. The same thing Onyx had taught him since he had been a child. Enter the battlefield and kill them all. No exceptions, no mercy.

´ _But we can´t do it here. If we´re going to be like that again, people can´t see. Even if we only leave bodies in our wake, people must not see. ´_

With a slight adjustment. Lure them to his battlefield and kill them. It was all the same.

"Come on," he said as the rain poured down his face. "We have preparations to make."

* * *

" _His resistance and resilience has proven remarkable. Truly and utterly remarkable. Mantis and Greystone quickly succumbed to the addicting and pleasurable sides of the deeds, but he never did. Blackwood still strives to be the perfect soldier without letting his actions dictate his personality. Actual morality in a fully conditioned child soldier. Amazing. No cruelty, no needless harm inflected on his adversaries._

 _What's more, even a Huntress like Subject Branwen did not make it through operation WALLSTORM with her sanity intact, but he recovered from that. Perhaps it's the Semblance, but young Alan actually made a full recovery from the implantation. Branwen never did. For him, the psychosis lasted mere weeks before he managed to recollect himself. Even Greystone took months before he recovered from his Catalyst and some staff claim he never did._

 _Now the Themeluesi might not be fully convinced, but I am certain that, should we manage to finish the ACE project, Blackwood might lead the push on Salem's territory. And when we finish the Fusion project…well, humanity's shield and lance. More need not be said. For now."_

 _ **Professor K. Greene**_


	12. Chapter 12

_**Knight7572:** ah, I see what you mean. That was Blackwood, however. That flashback will soon follow :)_

 ** _Tuutje07:_** _nine years old precisely. That is the reason._

 ** _Minesniper:_** _and we're just getting started!_

* * *

 **Beacon Academy**

 **Holding cells**

The first time the General hit him, it came as a surprise. The next six or seven times, not so much. Big man had a lot of strength behind his fist, but he lacked that psychotic knack for violence that often came coupled with these interrogation scenes.

That would make this an insulting caricature.

"Frost," he said, smirking as he did. "One zero six, six seven seven, nine nine."

Ironwood was fuming. His patience was dwindling like a corpse set alight. "I don't have time for your games, Schnee. Tell me."

Frost wouldn't let the man know how much he _loathed_ that name. "If you can´t be patient, General, you won´t ever beat us."

The man lashed out again and nearly knocked him out of his chair. "We have ways of making you talk. It's up to you whether I employ them. What is Onyx trying to achieve here?"

What was Onyx trying to _achieve?_ Hah. As if they would ever tell him. He only worked in the field, what use was knowing classified secrets to him? "You're boring me here, James," Frost said, spitting out a small mouthful of blood. "You're not the big boy here."

The General grabbed a fistful of his hair and slammed him down against the metal table, denting it. Next thing he knew, the barrel of a large gun was pressed against the back of his head.

Despite the dizziness that the abuse of his skull was causing, Frost had to laugh. He had lost his sense of humour around the same time the White Fang had started losing their interest in keeping him in one piece, but this was about the closest he would come to feeling amusement. The idea of someone who wanted to fight Onyx threatening him with death. "You know you want to do it. Come on General, pull that trigger. You'd be doing me a favor."

He could hear Ironwood taking several deep breaths, before the gun was pulled away from his head. Another disappointment. "You're not getting off that easily," the General remarked. "Death is too cheap for the likes of you."

Frost tried to give a retort, nearly choked when a bit of blood accidentally entered his airways and coughed his way to the capacity of speech again. "Hah...you're less stupid than you look. So what's the plan, big guy? Lock me away in some prison?"

"You'd never see the light of day again," the General growled. "And I'm certain we can find you a nice place where every single inmate knows who you are and what you did. How long will you last before someone makes you their special friend?"

Frost was not impressed. "Dunno…I guess the same time it takes me to murder everyone in there. And didn't you know, James? Sunlight is overrated."

"Of course a cockroach like you wouldn't stand the light."

Being insulted took a degree of pride and dignity to be taken away. He had neither. Besides, he wasn't wrong. What else could you call someone who scurried around the places of war, clearing up the mess? "You've got nothing on me. Absolutely nothing."

"You don't even have a life," Ironwood said with disgust. "You're just a parasite."

Frost met the General's eyes. "You're wrong."

Now the big man gave a little smirk. "Am I now?"

"A parasite takes and gives nothing. That would be you. I _kill_ parasites."

There was a brief pause, after which the General backhanded him hard enough to send him across the room. He loudly collided with the wall behind him and white spots exploded into his vision. "I'm a patient man, Schnee-"

Alright, fuck that satisfaction-thing. He couldn't _stand_ that name. "Please. Call me Frost."

The General grabbed a hold of his throat and awkwardly shoved his head against the metal floor. "But my patience is running out! Nobody is immune to prolonged interrogation, Onyx. After the first few weeks, even you will break. You might have won the sympathy of these kids with your 'victimized child' card, but believe me when I say that nobody will miss you."

"Victimized child," Frost muttered. He had heard a lot of bad things, but that one was new. He was about as much a child as the General was and the only time he had been a victim, it had cost him bits and parts of himself.

Besides; Ironwood was just dead wrong there. As a matter of fact, there was one person who would miss him. And depending on the time, she was probably already missing him now. He hadn't come to Beacon just to get himself captured like this.

"Mark my words," the General then said, his voice dropping to a dangerously-low level. "You're just the first. I'm going to make sure you dogs will never hurt anyone again."

"Ah…" Frost said, grunting due to the iron-hard pressure that was being exerted on his larynx. Just a little bit more and it would probably ruin his throat. And it was his second one, to boot. "So…this _is_ about…Odysseus."

For a split-second, the murderous look in Ironwood's eyes assured him that it would finally end. That the man would kill him then and there and he would finally be allowed to rest.

The disappointment stung all the more when the General simply let go of him, rising to his feet. He straightened his jacket and took a deep breath. "This is about…far more than him. This is about all the crimes your group committed, all the innocent lives you-"

"Yeah yeah," Frost coughed, wishing that his hands weren't bound so tight right now. His ruined shoulder was aching so bad right now. "Whatever. What time is it?"

Time to receive a stomp to the chest, apparently. The big guy's boot came down hard enough that Frost could have sworn he sunk an inch deeper into the floor. Luckily, his ribs remained intact.

"Joke all you want," Ironwood said, turning away and walking towards the door. "You won't get to just walk away this time."

His soldier posse followed him and the door was loudly closed after him.

Frost coughed again, slowly rolling to his stomach and crawling back to his feet. Bastard hadn't even untied him. Amber had better not smell the man's sweat on him. She'd do much more than simply rip out his throat. How the hell was he supposed to minimize casualties if he didn't know the damn time?

He guessed he was better off than he had predicted, all things considered. It would've been a thousand times worse had Ironwood's protégé been there. Damn woman…why did she have to show up today of all things? He might have even gone unnoticed if it hadn't been for Winter.

Frost sat back down on the chair and sighed. It was probably for the better that Winter and Weiss were both here now. At least now he could choose which one.

He closed his eyes and waited. Patience was one of the first virtues he had been taught. Waiting a few hours in a cell that didn't stink like rotting corpses was nothing compared to some of the other places he had been forced to wait a few hours. And he had a chair too.

Time went funny in a cell with nothing that could be used to indicate it. It might have been two hours, but it might have also been thirty minutes when someone banged against the door.

"Frost, is that you?"

He groaned when he heard that voice. Weiss Schnee…what was she doing here? Did Beacon allow visiting hours?

And where was Amber, anyway? "What?" He barked.

"You should get away from the door," another voice said. Female, younger. The redhead? "What are you-"

There was a massive gunshot and the upper hinge as blown free. A second later, the lower one got shot to hell as well.

Someone pulled at the handle, but the door didn't open. "It didn't work!" the young girl cried out in obvious dismay.

That was because the door was still locked. Blowing the hinges wouldn't work.

"Stand back, kiddo," someone else said. A gravelly male voice. One that Frost recognized, but he didn't know from where.

"Wait," Weiss then said, "shouldn't we at least try to do this discreetly?"

What part of breaking into the holding cells and shooting the hinges of a high-security door was in any way discreet?

There was another loud bang and the door got blown completely out of its frame. It wobbled dangerously before falling to the ground in the noisiest way possible.

Weiss Schnee, her redheaded teammate and an old man with a scythe and a red cape. He'd rather see Ironwood again.

"Frost!" Weiss exclaimed upon seeing him.

"I would have cleaned up had I known you'd come," Frost said.

"So this is your little nephew?" the man said, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Charming."

Frost _knew_ that man, but from where? His way of life didn't generally allow him to make new acquaintances. The entire point of him was making sure that there would be no witnesses. Had he _met_ this guy?

"Oh, that doesn't look good," the redhead softy said when she laid her eyes on one of the droplets of blood that still clung to the table.

Looked good to him. No iron-deficiencies or other blood-related problems. It was the healthiest shade of red possible.

"What did he do to you?" Weiss called, quickly rushing towards him and reaching for his bound wrists. "What is wrong with that man?"

"Don't open _that_ door," the dark-haired man remarked.

Weiss fumbled with the metallic bindings for a few moments, during which she not only didn't get them loose, but also succeeded in tightening them even further.

"Occupational hazard," Frost remarked, turning towards what could only be the other girl's father. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Well, I was just dropping by when I heard ol' Jimmie had you thrown behind bars," the man replied with a smirk. "Wouldn't want to miss an opportunity to mess with him."

Ol' Jimmie…Frost needed to remember that. "You're not supposed to be here," he told Weiss. "Why are you here?"

"You're welcome!" The Heiress bit back, before sighing in exasperation and drawing her rapier. "Don't move."

He couldn't move, she had tightened his bindings.

"We are here to save you," the redheaded girl said. Rather vehemently, too.

"I have it under control," Frost growled. Even when they got him captured by the enemy, they couldn't stop messing with the plan.

The man glanced at the fallen door and shrugged. "Looks very 'under control' to me. What were you going to do, dig your way out?" A brief pause. "With a spoon?"

Weiss ripped through the bindings that kept his wrists bound, but also cut through the glove on his left hand. He sighed with annoyance and pulled his hands free, ripping the now-useless piece of clothing free too. "What time is it?"

The Heiress picked up the white piece of fabric and clumsily offered it him, without meeting his eyes. Instead she looked at his hand, whereupon she sighed and covered her mouth with her other hand. "What happened to your _hand?"_

Frost quickly tucked his fingers against the palm of his hand, including the mechanical thumb, index and ring finger. "Fed the wrong animals. What _time,_ princess?"

"It'll be evening in ten minutes," the redheaded girl said, placing her hands on her hips. "And you're welcome, by the way! It was difficult finding the right cell!"

"The General will be meeting the Headmaster tonight," the man said. "You'd better get out of here while you can."

…was that the faint smell of alcohol he smelled? Now he definitely knew who this man was. The Huntsman, Qrow Branwen, the man who had single-handedly raided more Onyx facilities than most armed forces had. He stood all the way on top of Onyx's yellow list, together with Matt Adamant and a few other individuals.

Cozy.

Almost evening…Amber was very close to hitting the school. And now that he had gotten himself captured, security was bound to be doubled. Great, more blood for him to clean…"I don't recall the need to run," Frost replied, before turning to Weiss. "Where is your sister?"

"She and I agreed that it would be for the best of the let me do the talking," Weiss replied, crossing her arms. "And you are _not_ going after her! Don't you dare!"

As if she was worth the trouble. "I got more urgent matters to attend to," he replied. "An associate of mine is dropping by soon. She doesn't take kindly to…" Well, he had to be honest here. "…people. I'd like her to see me first."

"What's so bad about an Onyx girl knocking on our door?" the man remarked. "Unless she's not dressed for the occasion, of course."

"Qrow!" the redhead cried out. "Now is not the time."

Yep. Definitely Qrow Branwen.

"Don't tell me," Weiss said. "It's _that_ girl?"

Frost glanced at the Heiress, actually somewhat impressed by her perception. "Think I'm trouble? Wait until she gets grumpy."

"Sounds like my kind of girl," Qrow said. "A shame I've got to leave now. Jimmie ain't the only one who gets to meet the Headmaster. You two will be fine, right?"

Frost very much doubted that.

"Well, what are we waiting for then?" Weiss cried out. "Tell her you're alright!"

She was supposed to meet him at the holding cells, but someone kicked the door in with all the subtlety of Amber herself.

The girl had better taken the rifle with her. If he was to end this whole Company business, he didn't have more time to lose. He had humored Weiss Schnee long enough. And Winter was here now, too. That left him free to execute the freedom that Onyxh ad granted him. The very first time he had a freedom in his entire life, as well. The freedom to pick.

So which one would he pick?

* * *

 **Campus grounds**

 **22:19**

"Are you sure?" Cinder Fall asked, glancing at the scorch marks that still pocketed the garden after the failed assassination attempt the day before.

"White hair, unhealthy obsession with the Schnee family and more repressed anger than an Ursa. It was him."

"What do we do?" Emerald said, trying to hide her unease and failing.

Hmm…she had not taken Frost Schnee into account. Ironwood and his tin men were one thing, but he was a whole different thing. Despite Onyx' best efforts to quench it, his reputation preceded him. Where he went, bothersome situations got cleaned up, and people inadvertently died. And while that was not necessarily a bad thing, it did mean that they had to be very careful with their next steps. "He has no idea who we are. If we play this right, he can take the fall."

Mercury kicked a fallen piece of wood, breaking it in half. "He sure seemed interested in the good General's sidekick. Man, family feuds get ugly sometimes. Didn't even bother to use his other arm."

At that, Cinder felt her curiosity aroused. "Which one?"

He shrugged. "Dunno. Left one, I guess."

Interesting…very interesting. From what her…mutual friend had told her, Frost was not the type to hold back at all. Whether he was executing young women who had seen too much or fending off elite Huntsmen, he always fought with the same focus and dedication. Something must have happened to him. Specifically, his left arm.

The silly boy must have picked a fight with the wrong people.

Cinder smiled. "Don't worry about the Schnee. That problem should take care of itself. We should focus on-"

Something impacted on her associate's face and he cried out in alarm, clutching his face as large droplets of red splattered to the ground.

"Mercury!" Emerald yelled, before quickly leaping backwards to avoid a similar fate. Cinder projected a barrier in front of herself, which stopped another projectile dead in its tracks.

"What the hell," Mercury snapped, wiping his stained hands on his pants. "Paint?"

The trajectory and the impact placed the shooter atop one of the roofs in Beacon. Cinder followed the trail with her sharp eyes and sure enough, a figure detached from the background, rising to his feet. Only one person would attempt to snipe three students this late in the evening with paint rounds.

"William Greystone," Cinder said, shaking her head. She was disappointed, in a way. He should have been smart. She would have saved the Catalyst for last. She would have allowed the two of them to spent a few more days together before the inevitable end. Now, she would come for her.

"He is _so_ dead," Emerald growled.

"When do we nail him?" Mercury eagerly asked. His Aura had stopped most of the paint, but he still had a red smear on his chest.

Cinder inhaled, slowly taking in the scent of the falling night. The most promising revelation of all, her contact had promised her that. A power unlike anything mankind had ever forged, powered by the soul of a forsaken child. Compared to that, even the power of the Four Seasons paled.

Her chest burned with anticipation. "Why wait?" She said. "I think it's time to ease the little bird's suffering."

"What, here?" Emerald questioned.

Most likely not. The Onyx dog had formed a nauseating attachment to his new master. He would not risk everything in a fight right here. It was the reason why he had used paint instead of live rounds; he was going to lure them to a different place, where they could dance without anyone interfering.

"Why not?" Mercury replied. "Would be fun, showing these kids a real fight."

The figure stepped back and faded away in the shadows. How befitting.

"Follow him," Cinder said, pushing away the burning feeling of hunger and desire. She would have all the time in the world to get to know the little bird when she ripped her from his body. "And be careful."

"For what?" Emerald exclaimed. "It's just one freak-"

Scowling, Cinder reached out and slapped the girl in her face. She staggered backwards, clutching her cheek with her hands. "Do not question me!" Cinder sharply said. "Not if you want to survive. That 'freak' has been fighting and killing longer than you have been stealing. To underestimate him is a fool's wager."

"He didn't seem that impressive last time," Mercury carefully said, making sure to keep a plain and casual appearance. In their time as a group, she had rarely, if ever had to discipline him. He had a way of pointing out details as if they were obvious, without risking her wrath if they were contrary to what she had planned.

Cinder liked how he was basically walking on his toes to avoid provoking her. Well, metaphorically, of course. "He is holding back. He has been for months. If you need a reminder, Cassandra's reports are still present on your scroll."

Mercury grunted. The images that the ex-Onyx scientist had gathered during her time as a disavowed had made him rather uncomfortable. It seemed that everybody had standards.

So to close in on him unprepared was a death sentence for anyone without her capabilities. If everybody reminded that, nobody would have to get hurt today.

Nobody except for him, of course.

* * *

 **Several kilometers from Vale, city**

 **Unidentified bridge**

 **23:12**

Four placed, one more to go. The weak supports holding the structure in in the air were easy to identify, though the exact amount of hardware needed to take them out was hard to wager.

' _I really think we should have told her that we would be going tonight.'_

Will placed the explosive charge and linked the signal to remote detonation. "And make her all worried? It's better this way."

' _But what if we fail?'_

"We won't." It wasn't a lie. Not technically. This was the best-prepared operation he had taken in a long time.

' _It does feel like we're leaving loved ones behind for one last mission. You don't have a picture of her, do you?'_

A picture of Yang…he would really like that. Such a thing was not done, however. "It would be creepy."

' _That's silly. It would just be romantic. You would need a normal picture though…'_

While he was far from superstitious, it didn't feel good to take 'one last look' at the picture of a lost one before any operation. That was just asking for trouble.

Nonetheless, it was an…attractive prospect. He had seen enough dying soldiers seemingly comforted by a piece of paper with someone's face on it to know that it was a thing of all times and places. "Let's just get this over with first. If we do this, they will be safe."

' _Right. Do you have everything ready? Explosive charges?'_

Will checked the signal of the last C12 Havoc charge. "Check."

' _Your v-vontaige spot?'_

"…what?"

' _Van…v-vant…'_

"Almost there," Will said, teasingly.

' _Vantage point!'_

The air of victory in her voice made him feel like they had practically won this confrontation already. "Check," he said with a slight smile. This bridge had been declared unsafe years ago, when a sudden Grimm attack had caught hundreds of civilians as they were trying to evacuate across of it into Vale. With the Kingdom so close by, security had been lacking somewhat.

By the time Onyx had gotten there, there had been only mangled bodies left to identify. He was sure that, in some way or another, they would have gotten the blame for their deaths as well.

But it did mean that this place was a perfect place for an ambush. An upturned truck served as his vantage point, from where he could lock down the entirety of the bridge with superior firing lanes.

' _Ammo?'_

In the truck, several boxes of munition for his Marksman Rifle. "Check."

' _Armour for when I fail?'_ She then asked with a small voice.

"You won't fail, " he reassured her, "but check."

Ancilla had discovered how to channel his Aura again. It wasn't much and it sure didn't last long, but combining it with hers, she could create an impressive defense over a vital point in his body. Albeit temporarily. Still, the last of his supplies would have to serve him just in case his enemy was strong enough to overcome that defense. The undersuit of body armour wasn't the strongest one he could think of, but it would serve its purpose.

' _And last but not least…your weapon when they come close?'_

Will pulled his tanto machete from its sheath, whipping the blade through the air and cutting through a protruding mirror from a large jeep, slicing it clean off. "Check," he said, much more enthusiastically than before.

' _Another blade. I thought you didn't like swords?'_

This thing wasn't technically a sword. "I don't know…I thought I didn't, but each time I see one, I get this weird feeling inside. Like I _know_ it." The feeling was difficult to explain and his effort made it sound stupid.

' _You…you get this with every sword?'_ She carefully asked.

Yes -no. Not every sword. Blake's sword, for example, didn't do much for him. But its sheath…it gave him a tingling feeling in his spine just thinking about it. And the big guy, Yatsu-something-else, his sword was even more impressive. Just seeing it made him want to rip it from his body and use it for himself. The damn thing was just not build for balance and finesse, unfortunately. Weiss' rapier was better suited for that, but it was too small.

He didn't need to speak his thoughts for her. His feelings regarding the matter were enough for her. "Was it like that in the past, too?" He asked.

' _I…I don't know. C-can't remember.'_

He had expected as much. Still, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something that Ancilla wasn't telling him. It would be the first time in his life if she kept something from him now though.

Better chalk it up to the training for now. "We should get ready. They'll be coming soon."

With that, Will took his refuge inside of the upturned truck and placed his rifle against the frame of its door. He had made very sure that the three would come after him, going as far as to leave an obvious trail for them to follow. It might not even be three. Cinder might bring more of her bribed or blackmailed Atlesian soldiers. He liked to think that it wouldn't matter.

Time slowly crept by as Will held his position, standing in the inside of the cabin while keeping the bridge locked down. One minute became five, then fifteen. Eventually, Ancilla grew bored.

' _What happens after this?'_ She asked.

"We'll rip every single piece of data from Beacon's system," he replied. "If nobody knows where to look, we'll start hitting Onyx bases. It has to be somewhere."

' _Do you think we have that time?'_

There was no need to think about that right now. "Yes. And I'll make sure they will pay for every day of your life they stole."

' _I don't want more violence. Can't we just build a life at Beacon? Please?'_

That was a whole different can of problems. "Sure. If that's what you want."

' _Thank you, Will.'_

She seemed content with that and that was all that mattered. So he kept watch. Another thirty minutes crept by and his arms were starting to feel a bit weary. All the training in existence couldn't keep you in form if you neglected to keep it up. He had been too busy with too many things, neglecting to properly keep himself fit. Even-

There was movement at the far end of the bridge and Will cut his thoughts short, focusing on nothing more than the beating of his heart and the sight of his targets.

It wasn't them. It was an old man, walking with a cane. Walking past the abandoned cars and entombed corpses without a care in the world, proceeding deeper into hostile territory.

 _Trap._

' _You're not going to-'_

Will pulled the trigger and the barrel of his rifle exploded, propelling the massive round it carried with enough speed to punch through a helicopter. The bullet tore through the man's skull and his body slumped to the ground.

 _Fake._

' _What on Remnant are you doing!'_ Ancilla yelled, but he cycled the chamber and send another round through the geezer's body.

It didn't budge an inch.

Just like he thought. A headshot from this weapon would turn anyone's head into a thin, red mist. It carried enough force to stop a charging Ursa dead in its tracks, so an old guy like this one wouldn't stand a chance.

The air in his area of operations started shimmering and glistering. There were blurs of motion, as if the wind was carrying a thin veil of plastic across the ground. Either he was hallucinating again or someone was messing with his senses. Both chances were equally logical, but still his body kicked into overdrive at the mere thought of entering combat again.

' _He…he disappeared.'_

True enough, the corpse faded away. He was under attack.

The Operative sighted in on the visual anomalies and opened fire. Seven shots rang out in quick succession, but nothing indicated that he hit his mark.

Then, at point blank range, a figure leapt at him. Green hair and dark skin, dead in the air with nowhere to run.

He pulled the sidearm from his hip and shot the apparition through its head. Not even Jaune Arc would charge at an entrenched position like that.

At the exact moment he forced the apparition to disappear, a trio of people appeared in his peripheral vision. He immediately shifted his rifle, took a split second to align the scope with Cinder Fall's head and pulled the trigger. Once, twice, three times.

She raised her hand and blocked all three rounds with casual movements, removing that possibility from the equation.

Cinder took a step forwards and Will rose from his position, making use that she knew he would shoot again if she continued. He did not neglect to keep an eye on the two punks though, as he knew that they were going to try and outflank him. They stood at her side like they were her lackeys. And she had a word about _his_ obedience?

"It's three on one," the green-haired girl bit at him. There was animosity in her voice, aggression in her stance. "Drop your weapon!"

He saw through her act. A brave front, quickly put up to hide the terror that was coursing through her body. "She's scared," Will told Cinder. "You had to drag them in this?"

"Of course she is," the raven-haired woman replied, with a smile that signified that it was _her_ who was in control, and not him. "Who wouldn't be, facing you?"

' _Will, easy. She's talking. Maybe we can find out what she wants?'_

Easier said than done. Greystone dropped down from his position and dropped his rifle. It would only hinder him at this point.

Cinder took a few steps forwards and the Operative tensed up, stuck between his instinctive compulsion to lash out and Ancilla's repeated warnings to find out what they wanted. Something about her scared him. No, fright wasn't what he felt. Something about her riled him up, driving him mad with desire, but for what he didn't know.

"You, who has been killing for a decade," Cinder continued. "You, who personally slaughtered so many people in Vacuo that multiple companies placed a kill-order on your head, at the age of ten?"

" _Just keep her talking,"_ Ancilla said, sounding very much disturbed.

How? How did Cinder know this? And why tell him? "You're the one to talk. You've killed many innocent people."

Cinder brandished a truly wicked smile. "And you even more so. Don't be ashamed. It's only your nature, running its course."

Her words touched him deeper than he had expected. They burned, setting alight a trail of anger and indignation. "It wasn't my choice!"

His temperature was rising and it didn´t die down again. "Not my choice," he quietly repeated. Headaches, voices. Ancilla did what she could to quench them, but it didn't work. "But I gave you one. You brought this on yours-"

"You will die here, unless you stop holding back," the woman spoke, cutting him off. Her slender, feminine figure hid the true power she wielded. Power someone could not attain on their own.

"I never hold back against people like you," Will replied.

Cinder chuckled. Someone like her should not sound so endearing! "I think you do. There is no impact behind your strikes, no force behind your movements. You deny your weapons their true potential. _Your_ true potential."

' _Don´t listen to her,´_ Ancilla immediately declared. Too immediately. A sign that something was very, very wrong. The headache faded away, but then came doubt and uncertainty.

Should be obey her? Or was this the first time in his life that she withheld the truth from him?

"You made the decision to lure us all the way here, for what? A fair fight?"

No. "You won't harm anyone here."

Cinder merely laughed at that. "I think you mean _you_ won't harm anyone here?"

 _What?_

"Because," she continued, perhaps sensing the confusion she was sowing, "truly, you care little for those around you. How could you, when they trigger your murderous intent with each and every step they take?"

A sensitive chord. His feelings towards the world were irrelevant-

' _No, they are not. You will not beat her if you deny what you feel. But if you listen to her…you might not like what you find out.'_

What did that mean? Did she…did she know what Cinder meant? How?

"I know you," Cinder told him with a voice that was too tender for this situation. Almost loving. "Better than you know yourself. You look at the people around you, all those arrogant, wretched civilians living their lives safely because of your sacrifices, and you feel _hate._ You feel scorn and loathing. You yearn to end their pitiful lives, yet you remain chained by your desire to serve them. It weakens you... _so. Much."_

She could convey his conflicting feelings in words, so perfectly. Did she…did she really understand? "That's not…only the ones who pose a threat. Not…not all of them."

"A threat? To _you?_ It is time to be honest to yourself, Greystone."

She…she was right. Even without Aura, even without his body at peak efficiency, those faceless mobs would never be able to harm him. "I fight to protect the innocent," he insisted. Never before had those words sounded so hollow. So _pointless._ "To serve-"

"You and I both know that to be a lie, Greystone," Cinder cut him off. Her voice was so alluring that he did not even mind. "Deep down, you always knew. And it was never about serving. You like this."

' _But how could you not?'_ Ancilla suddenly shouted at him. ' _How couldn't you like it, when they made it your addiction? When they made it a perverse pleasure to kill?'_

"I-" He slowly sank through his knee, stricken by the horror and simplicity of it all. Overwhelmed by the sheer logic and reason that she brought to him.

Memories crept on him. Laughter at the sacking of Vacuo's capital, the deaths of many hundreds of people, combatants and noncombatants alike. The satisfaction, glee and pleasure of his blade, slicing through exposed flesh.

When others died and he lived, he was more alive than ever.

' _I couldn't live like that. And neither could you.'_

She controlled his Semblance. His body, his mind, on a biological level. On the level of his _soul_.

He slammed his fist into the pavement underneath him, which cracked under the impact. Damnit, why hadn't Ancilla _told_ him! What had she done to him, to make him forget _that?_ The core of who he was? "You're…right. All those years, I told myself that it was my purpose," he whispered. "I fought because I was ordered to. But when _she_ came…that changed. I believed that I could do _good."_ He shook his head at that delusion. "If the killing was useful, there was no need to feel guilty."

Fighting for the greater good of mankind…a clever and convenient lie to hide his true self. Ancilla remained silent. Another sign of the real truth.

"You wanted to explain away the pleasure it gave you," Cinder told him. Her affectionate, caring voice, so filled with a wicked desire, brought into words that which he had tried to rationalize for years at an end.

"I learned young that killing felt _good_ ," he said, remembering the warm jolts of joy and desire that had surged through his body every time he performed the deed. "Really good." He could still taste the sharp hint of narcotics mixed through his food. After each successful action, used to sharpen his feelings and make them feel better about it.

He looked up, staring at those bright, cruel eyes of the one who had freed him of his self-inflected chains. "I always told myself that I fought because it was the only thing I could do. The only thing I was good at." He laughed, for the first time in thirteen months without restraint, and both Mercury as Emerald took a step backwards.

He could feel their movements vibrating through the stone, he could see their shifting in the corners of his eyes. There was no need to keep it back. It was like a weight had dropped off his shoulders; there was no need to keep lying to himself. No need to restrain himself. "But I was wrong. I fight because it's the only thing I _like_."

"He's lost his mind," Mercury said.

No. He had finally regained it. A weight had fallen from his shoulders, freeing him of the mental shackles that Ancilla had forged.

Will slowly rose to his feet again as a warm, fuzzy feeling spread through his veins. The anticipation of another fight, another kill. "The… _serving_ of mankind…I guess it was just a guise to hide my true self. What I was _really_ like."

"Tell me William," Cinder nearly whispered at him. "What are you really like?"

Operative Greystone…butcherer in Vacuo, murderer in Mistral. "I think I'm about find out." The anticipation was wrecking him. Enough talking. His skin was itching, his blood burning.

"Excellent," Cinder said with a smirk. She too realized the change in the atmosphere, the electric crackle of murderous intent. "You have something that belongs to me. If you give her to me, I can grant you your desires. I can teach you how to stop holding back."

' _W-will?'_ Ancilla nervously asked. ' _This…even now, this…this doesn't change anything…does it?'_

"Never." To Cinder, he said, "Do you know why those armed forces placed a kill order on my head? Why they feared me so much? I'll show you."

Her eyes narrowed. "Gladly."

There was a flash of light, followed by movement. As Will tried to reassure Ancilla that he would never allow anyone to harm her -that this new view would only allow them to fight better- Cinder struck.

He allowed her. It was time to let the Operative loose.

A thin, razor-sharp blade drilled through his chest, penetrating his suit, skin and muscles. It impaled him all the way to his back, breaking through the skin of his outfit on the other side. Blood poured down from the wound, and he could anticipate the pain.

Pain. The agony sharpened his senses and cleared up the tendrils of doubt that remained. He knew pain. It was his life, his motivation. With it coursing through his body, everything worked so much _better._

He stumbled backwards, clutching the makeshift projectile with both hands. "Ah…" Fresh, searing pain like this made him realize he was truly alive. Who were they to keep him down? Pin him to the ground like an animal? He knew his place perfectly.

Knee-deep in bodies.

Will laughed again, shivering, pulling the blade right out. Blood poured from the open wound, forming a small stain of crimson on the concrete below. Ancilla immediately distanced herself from his pain, allowing him to bear it all. She was going to be busy soon. "Good... _hurt_ me." The weapon left his body and Ancilla immediately regenerated the wound, repairing the ruined tissue and knitting back the torn muscles. "It won't be enough!"

At that exclamation, Mercury and Emerald rushed forwards. Greystone grinned and flung the weapon at the two attacking brats, forcing them to break off their attack and jump to the side.

His turn. He exhaled and kicked off, shattering the stone underneath his feet and covering the half a dozen meters that separated him and his victims in a heartbeat. Mercury was the first, reminding Will of all those arrogant and faceless corpses on the battlefield. He collided with enough force to rip a Beowolf in half, but Mercury stayed remarkably intact. He brought his arms up and lashed out with his feet at the same time, slamming his twin metal boots against the Operative's sternum in his own defense.

The blow killed the momentum that Will had and launched Mercury further back, but that didn't matter. Outlasting them or overpowering them, both were viable options. "Ancilla, do it."

' _R-right. Protect the head-'_

"And keep the organs together."

Mercury was fleet on his feet. Large strides, multiple meters per footstep. Right on top of him with a flurry of kicks, supported by metal boots heavier than most sidearms. Cinder seemed content to watch.

' _Where is the girl?'_

Will leapt backwards to avoid a blow to his head and then pinned Mercury's leg against his side with his elbow. He was about to drive his right hand straight into the boy's eye when a gunshot forced him to change his tactics. He ducked low as a green-white projectile tore through the air he had just vacated and dove underneath a well-aimed roundhouse kick as Mercury went on the offensive once more.

He traced the trajectory of the bullet towards a large truck parked at the side of the bridge. Sure enough, a blur of green betrayed her position.

 _Gotcha._

' _Ah…there she is.'_

Relentlessly, Mercury pushed the attack, stringing together eight heavy kicks within three seconds. There was a bigger threat on the prowl. Greystone was the first to admit that his mind was far from healthy and stable, but even he knew that the enemy couldn't be everywhere at once.

Emerald was. Impressive speed, alluring frailty. Blurring from the left flank to the right flank, striking him even from behind. Strikes that he could barely defend himself against.

So he adjusted accordingly. His fist carved through Emerald's body, succeeding only in separating mirage from reality. At that moment, he reached behind him and grabbed the hilt of his own weapon, pulling it out in one smooth movement. It had proven useful in defending against team RWBY. Now it would prove useful in slaughtering his enemies.

The next second, Mercury's boot passed his face within an inch and Will felt something touch his shoulder. He reacted with ingrained reflexes and pinned the offending limb at his shoulder, twisted his hips and flipped Mercury to the ground.

Will growled with dissatisfaction. A takedown like that would have incapacitated any normal man, but Mercury Black was far from normal. As such, the attack mere fazed him and allowed Emerald to save his life. His time with the Beacon kids had dulled his killer instinct, robbed him of a quick kill.

Fine. It was going to be that way.

Greystone whipped out his blade and deflected Emerald as she struck at him with her chained weapons from three different directions.

The front was fake, as was the right flank. The left was real and the chain wrapped itself around the hilt of his tanto machete.

Will spread his legs out and lowered his center of balance before the girl could pull him off his feet. Mercury saw what was happening and tried to take advantage of his temporary disadvantage, immediately moving in to crack his skull open while he was preoccupied.

That was not going to happen. Will dodged the first strike and lashed out with his elbow, narrowly missing Mercury's face. The next moment he forcefully jerked his chained arm backwards, jerking Emerald off her feet and towards him.

Mercury uttered a cry and kicked at his midsection, immediately following up by spinning on his heels and performing a roundhouse kick.

The Operative was forced to hop backwards and deflect the second strike with the palm of his free hand, lest he give Emerald a chance to recover.

She was strong, but he was much stronger. H grabbed a fistful of the coloured chains and ripped them towards him, positioning his blade in such a way that the girl would impale herself the second she came close enough-

Mercury lashed out at his blade with a high jump-kick, saving Emerald from certain death.

The girl immediately recovered and whipped her other weapon around, nearly impaling Will's blade-arm with the jagged edge of her revolver. He only avoided that one by grabbing Mercury's other leg when it came up and using that to deflect the blade.

Emerald's weapon ripped through her partner's jeans and carved deep trails in the fabric.

Greystone liked the idea of crippling the kicker's legs and pulled the girl closer still, lashing out with an open-palm strike powerful enough to send her flying off.

Mercury performed another roundhouse kick and Greystone allowed it to make contact, but only briefly. He moved with the direction of the attack and immediately stepped closer, pushing the fighter off-balance and throwing him to the ground.

Will allowed a feral grin to play over his features and plunged the bladed edge of his machete straight into Mercury's right knee, seeking to cap his knees.

The metal blade found an unusual resistance in the leg, as if he was trying to stab an armoured vehicle instead of flesh. When the blade found its mark, Mercury barely reacted. No screams, no blood, no thrashing.

A disappointment.

Will scowled and ripped the blade downwards across his leg, but it didn't do anything. A few sparks and that was it.

The disappointment must have weakened his grip, because Mercury firmly planted his hands on the concrete and pushed off, escaping what could have lasted much longer.

There was a gunshot and a white-hot projectile sailed past Will's head, flaking off a thin trail of skin as it narrowly grazed him.

Mercury immediately created several meters of distance, performing several backward flips to get away.

Growling, Greystone jumped to his feet to go after him, but something distracted him. A visage of bright, golden hair and beautiful lilac eyes. She was wearing a white dress, which contrasted starkly with the filthy battleground that this bridge had become.

Will felt his coiled muscles relax and he blinked. "Yang-?"

The ground underneath him exploded in a flash of fire and debris and a corona of flames washed over him, dragging him along in a violent torrent that burned straight through the protective plating and undersuit.

Ancilla screamed a fear and a deep sensation of sheer terror build up inside of his stomach, quickly followed by a fury that managed to drown it out.

Will came to a standstill against an abandoned car, denting the metal and searing the ground underneath it with the residue heat. The skin on his hands was all cut and blistered and portions of his clothes were on fire.

Pyrophobia. Ancilla was absolutely terrified of flames and heat. It scared her out of her mind, instantly sending her coiling up like a wounded animal. Just like the first few days.

The Operative swatted at the flames that licked at his body, seething with anger. An extremely low blow that he would not fall for a second time. Luckily, his undersuit had taken the worst of the flames. The flexible armour was ruined and had to go, at least it wouldn't restrict his movements anymore.

"Now you're just being nauseating," he growled at the approaching figure of Cinder Fall. It looked like she had done enough watching.

"It was weakness on your part," Cinder remarked with her calm, seductive voice. "She would never come to your aid like that. You know that."

Will discovered what it was that set Cinder and Yang apart. Yang embodied comfort and warmth, while Cinder embodied fire and flames. Someone who could so easily control Ancilla with fear was someone who could not be allowed to live. Like the monsters who had worked on the Catalyst program in the first place, he would hunt her down.

"If it's going to be like that…" the Operative reached for the syringe that he had strapped to his thigh. Perhaps they thought he was reaching for some secret weapon of sorts; they didn't stop him.

He popped the seal and pushed the thin needle into the side of his neck. If he was going to be without his Semblance for a while, bleeding out was something he could not afford. This was the next best thing.

Upon seeing that he had simply reached for combat stimulants, Cinder scowled and performed a small gesture with her hand, signaling her allies to attack.

She had been right. He understood that now. He had been holding back for a long time now. A year, perhaps more. He was not afraid of war. Not hesitant for the fight. Back in Vacuo, during Onyx's final assault on the then-completely corrupted capital, the three of them had gleefully spent countless hours hunting down and killing everything that got in their way. Mercenaries, criminals, terrorists and terrified civilians who had picked up arms against them. There had been no difference.

He kicked off against the ground, which shattered underneath the force. Mercury and Emerald never reached him and their last-ditched attacks to nail him mid-strike failed. The several meters that separated him from his foe faded into nothingness and he spun his body around at the last moment, aiming with his heel at Cinder's exposed throat. Even against full Aura protection, a hit like that would have been lethal.

It didn't connect. There was a flash of light and the sharp bite of a sharp edge, forcing him to jump backwards to avoid a lethal counterattack.

"What" he breathed, watching the woman brandish a duel set of wicked-looking swords, apparently made out of glass.

"You still have far to go," she said, before taking several steps backwards and transforming her swords into a large bow.

Ancilla's crippling panic over the searing flames and his own increasing fury at the situation send him over the edge. He brandished his tanto machete and, with trained precision and force, struck the woman who had so deeply managed to stir his deepest and darkest thoughts. He ignored all rules of discipline and threw every ounce of aggression and frustration he could muster into his blows, shattering concrete and slicing through the metal frames of the abandoned cars.

It didn't get him anywhere. She was more agile, more accurate. She had more support. Each time he was about to push her on the defensive, either Mercury or Emerald would attempt to strike him from a blind spot.

He kicked Mercury away from him and strung together a rapid series of slashes at Cinder's neck and chest. A flash of motion exploded near his right and he instinctively ducked low to avoid a strike that would have costed him his throat, driving his elbow into Emerald's gut with enough strength to send her flying. The brief counters lasted perhaps for a second, but Cinder recognized and took them.

Regular attempts at her life didn't work, it seemed. She created several meters of distance between them and forged several flat-headed arrows with her bow, before firing them off with speeds rivalling that of bullets.

Will smirked and, with a flash of his blade, cut them in half as they passed him by-

-only for two of them to come back and nail him from behind. He was barely able to catch one of them before it could hit him, but the other found its mark in his side.

Was that the best she could come up with?

He ripped the arrow from his body and observed its head for a brief moment. No serrated edges or hooks, nothing to make him want to avoid removing it. Again, a disappointment.

Cinder took aim with her bow again, but this time she wouldn't get away with it.

Will dropped the arrow to the ground and was nearly able to take three steps before something cold and hard wrapped itself around his wrist, jerking him backwards and stopping him yet again. He looked down and was surprised to see that it was the same chain used against him earlier, but this time in a much more unfortunate timing.

The chains hauled him off his feet and pulled him back through the battlefield by his arms. He kicked with his feet, but he wasn't able to get himself free. Before he knew it, he impacted against the destroyed husk of a car and his arm was bent a painful way behind his shoulder, pinning him down.

"Think you had it tough?" He heard Emerald shout at him from behind. He glared over his shoulder at the bold girl, who had wrapped her chains around a lamppost to keep him trapped. No way he was escaping this through brute force alone. "You think you're the only one who had it hard?"

Even here he remained a stranger.

Cinder jumped down in front of him, keeping her distance. She smiled and nocked an arrow, taking aim at his head.

Will growled with frustration and flicked his blade to his other hand-

\- only for Mercury to kick it out of the air. He planted his hands on the roof of the car and lashed out with his legs at the Operative's face, forcing him to duck low and defend himself with his other hand arm.

He came close within reach. Close enough to grab him and crush his throat. A soul couldn't be cut, but he could still eliminate him from this fight.

Another chain wrapped itself around his arm, catching it midstrike and pinning it against the metal frame of the car as well.

"Damnit," Will grunted, giving a jerk to test the chains' strength. They didn't budge. Bitch must have wrapped them around the lamppost as well.

"Gotcha," Mercury said with a smirk, hopping just out of his reach.

Will gritted his teeth, resisting the urge to scream with frustration. His ears were ringing with sound and when he looked at the chains keeping him pinned, they briefly flickered and turned into dark, seeping tentacles, oozing with mud and blood.

Was this it? The extent of his strength? The range of his fury? If it was, what was he even here for? He'd let go of himself, of his own identity, and now he didn't even know what his reason was.

He looked up at the raven-haired woman, who let her arrow fly. Nowhere to go, nowhere to run. It impacted on his chest and embedded itself between his ribs.

The skies seemed to darken, as if dark clouds were gathering above their heads. It wasn't water that poured down on him. Merely waves of pain.

 _Not yet._

Through his fury-induced haze, Will remembered one thing. The only thing he knew for real.

Cinder nocked another arrow, taking her sweet time to take aim. Nobody interfered.

The only thing he knew for real. There would be blood. His or theirs. He'd fight just to spite himself.

"Ancilla…"

As horrifying as the fire was to her, something else would take its place if she couldn't rise above it. Something even worse. It was coming, and it wouldn't stop until even her dreams disappear. He was powerless to stop it. Between the loss of his identity and the loss of his humanity, he was starting to wonder if he had already gone insane.

"Ancilla? I need you."

He pulled at the chains once more, grunting with exertion. He knew what he needed to do and it would be _painful._

"Ancilla, do it!"

There was an influx of heat and cold inside of his mind, intense enough that it spread through his spine and into his limbs.

Oh, it would hurt. But it would be his. It would be right.

Yang and Ruby always shouted when they attacked. Blake and Weiss too. He had never seen the point behind it, but that was then. This was now.

Will flexed his left arm and _ripped._ A low cry of exertion escaped his throat as he felt the muscles and tendons throughout the limb leap towards their limits and then beyond them. The chains gave away and ripped free of their origin with a mighty creak of tearing metal and crumbling stone.

Cinder saw what he was doing and let her arrow fly.

The metal went slack and the Operative immediately twisted his body sideways and snatched the projectile from the air right as it passed in front of him.

"No!" Emerald shouted.

"Hah!" Will exclaimed. One of the tendons in his arm tore, but it was of no consequence. He gave another heave with his arms and ripped the lamppost free, concrete and all. Ancilla had temporarily lifted the biological restraints on his body, allowing him fight beyond what was possible for his body.

Nobody would keep him chained up.

He exhaled sharply and dropped to the ground, hooking his left leg behind the long chain. It ripped the concrete as well as the lamppost towards him, forcing Emerald to dive out of the way or get beheaded. He then dropped to his back and whipped his other leg into the chain as well, whipping it over his head in the same manner he had seen Mercury perform during this very fight.

The massive lamppost and piece of rubble he had forced loose with it swung in a wide arc around his body, forcing the defenders back and swiping cars straight off the bridge into the dark, wild river below. The immense strain the effort put on his muscles was slowly starting to catch up on him, and this fight couldn't last forever. Eventually, he rolled onto his shoulders, barely managed to grab his blade and then pushed himself off the ground.

Using his tanto machete, he cut himself free of the chains and allowed the piece of metal and stone to fling off into the river as well.

That got their attention alright. All three of them sought him out the instant he had freed himself. Swords, revolvers and metal boots flashed at his face and in that instant, Will was where he belonged.

There was the steady rhythm of his heart, beating calmer and calmer inside of his chest. There was the serene movements of his body, completely devoid of thought and directed only by instinct and memory. He was determination. He was war.

Cinder struck at his stomach with her sword, but he deflected her strike to the right with his forearm, before taking a step back to avoid another strike at his neck. Another flash of the glass weapon came, deflected to the left.

Emerald attacked him with an overhead swipe using her remaining revolver-blade, which he caught between two arms and pinned at his side. One arm snapped up and struck her against the side of her head, which snapped back under the force. Her Aura flickered away into nothingness and, with one hand, he grabbed a hold of her neck.

Mercury shouted and launched himself at him with the sound of twin thunderstrikes, throwing himself into a roundhouse kick that came with more force than most martial arts instructors at Onyx could muster. In response, Will sunk through his legs and drove his elbow straight into his face, sending him flying head-over-heels as him momentum carried him further.

His Aura faded away as well.

Cinder found more success. With yet another small gesture of her hand, she created two swords out of nowhere and flung them at him with the speed of rifle bullets. Will was forced to let go of his prey to be able to bring his own weapon up fast enough.

Onyx-forged steel clashed with fire-forged glass and the two makeshift projectiles exploded into thousands of pieces of glass.

But Fall wasn't done. She thrust her hand forwards and the pieces, still in the air, turned into elongated projectiles with pointed edges.

Will gritted his teeth and forced himself to relax. The coiled-up muscles in his shoulders went taut and Cinder flung the hail of flechettes at him. There was no way he could block all of them without one taking him out, so he did the next best thing. He crouched low and pushed himself towards the nearest car, ripping its door off its frame and bringing it in front of him just in time as the storm of glass impacted.

The hundreds of projectiles rattled his arms shook his teeth. The upper metal tore asunder under the rain of shards and something grazed the side of his head, spilling droplets of blood that dripped into his right eye.

As the assault dissipated, Will was forced to drop his shield and clean his face. He heard the clatter of feet hitting concrete and as he hastily looked up, cursing himself for his lack of caution, he saw that his enemies had faded away again.

Something tall and massive stood in front of him, sprouting many dozens of tentacles and oozing mud all over the floor. The latent effects of the combat stimulants and the raging adrenaline worked well with the pain flowing through his nerves, as he managed to block out the mental rape of his mind long enough to focus on the battlefield.

Emerald appeared at his right, a dozen meters away. Then Mercury, to the left, half the distance.

Then Cinder, directly in front of him. She slashed at his chest with her sword and immediately followed up with a kick to his ribs, knocking the wind out of him.

The blood that poured from the open wound on his chest strengthened his resolve and drowned away the uncertainty. He raised his head and uttered a hoarse laugh, which unsettled Cinder enough that she immediately sought her distance.

 _Clever girl._

With muscles that could allow him to stop a rampaging Alpha Beowolf dead in its tracks, Operative Greystone launched himself past Cinder Fall, straight at her female companion. The meters faded away within half a heartbeat and she was barely able to bring her arms up to guard herself before he impacted on her, focusing the force of his movement into one single horizontal kick at her chest. The impact sent her flying, slamming into the back of a truck eight meters away.

Mercury had about a second to ready himself before it was his turn. He attempted to intercept him with an attack of his own, but in the showdown of brute strength that inevitably followed, the Operative easily won.

A sense of morbid pleasure washed over Will as he got his hands on Mercury. He pinned the punk´s right arm on his back and shoved him face-first into the ground, whereupon he brought his foot down on his knee, hard.

 _This is for Ancilla,_ he thought with a feral satisfaction.

Something broke and shattered underneath his strike, but it wasn't bone. The sound was different. A creak of metal, perhaps.

Then it struck him. Advanced prostheses. "Your legs are made of metal," he said, unable to suppress a smile.

"And still more human than you," Mercury bit back, desperately trying to crawl away now that one of his legs was out of commission. How he had survived the initial clash was beyond the child soldier; he had sheared off limbs and shattered chest cavities using blows in the past, and that had been before he had even reached puberty.

The Operative couldn't really disagree. Actually, he was only just getting started.

' _Will!'_ Ancilla gasped.

"Easy. I'm here." Emerald was struggling to breathe and Mercury was effectively harmless. He could finish Cinder Fall here and now, and he would have the entire night to show her associates the finer details of being an Onyx Operative.

' _He is coming for you now.'_

There weren't many things that frightened him. In his current, state, he doubted that anything could shake him up. But the sudden calm and serene voice that Ancilla suddenly spoke in chilled him to his very core. It drove him to a complete standstill as the weight of her words struck him.

"What-"

His legs gave out underneath him and he fell to his knees. His adrenaline washed away, the latent effects of his combat drugs dissipated. Before him stood a living, collected mass of nightmares and fears. It's shaggy and torn lab coat was stained with blood and mud and its mouth -the empty, gaping and jagged hole that was its mouth- was contorted in a wicked smile.

Not now. Not here!

"No," Will whispered, but nobody heard him.

' _There is no hiding.´_

Thick, black tentacles covered with barbs and thorns wrapped itself around his arms, pulling him against the mud-spilled floor.

Before he could fully yield to its force however, something impacted on his back. The muscles around his spine went numb, but only for several fleeting moments. Then the pain struck him. Like the searing bite of a sudden flame, followed by several rolling twitches that danced across his nerves.

It was the exact same feeling as one of Cinder's arrows.

The agony washed over his senses like a great wave, drowning all emotions of fear and panic. It drove his fury and anger to the point where he was able to bring his hand down to his hip and rip the detonator from his belt.

Will glared at the agglomeration of terror and filth that stood before him and pressed the button, activating all the charges on the bridge-supports and completely leveling it.

~0~

Cinder released the tensed cord on her bow, releasing her arrow. It sailed straight and true and impacted the little demon right between his shoulder blades, just as she had taken down the Fall Maiden. Her former teammate.

The boy even fell to his hands and knees like she had done, but she doubted it was because of the pain. She had met a few psychopaths in her time since she had escaped those dark, wretched labs, but nothing quite like this. It was almost as if it fueled him like a Semblance, empowering him like a morbid drug.

Strange how it failed to execute that same effect now. Had her contact been right? Had his mental health really deteriorated to the point of acute visual hallucinations? Because whatever he was seeing right now, it wasn't her.

Suddenly, he rose to his knees again, brandishing another injection.

No, not an injection. That looked a lot like…a detonator.

Cinder scowled and quickly looked around at the most likely places for demolition. The bridge supports. Dark patches of black covered them at the base. He had rigged the battlefield to blow!

With a single press of a button, the Operative unleashed hell. The supports disappeared in simultaneous flashes of fire and shrapnel and all the cables that had once kept the mighty structure in place snapped like branches in a storm.

Cinder discarded her bow and turned around, jumping towards the nearest car. Behind her, Emerald grabbed Mercury and attempted to follow her. She had better hurry; the concrete floor of the large structure was now completely unsupported and already it was starting to crumble and break apart.

She leapt from the cart to a falling piece of debris, before quickly pushing off and hitting another one. Greystone had mounted a small lead in his escape of the death-trap that the bridge had become, frantically running across one of the falling cables while fending off an unseen attacker at the same time with his blade.

He _was_ hallucinating! The strain of supporting a Catalyst must be even larger than she had fathomed. That meant its power was even greater as well.

Cinder smiled and leapt after the boy, stepping from stone to stone and dodging a ruined piece of car that came tumbling towards her. She wouldn't lose him now. She wouldn't let her prey escape so easily.

The safety of solid ground came closer and closer, but it was doubtful whether the carrier would make it. He stumbled wildly on several occasions and two times Cinder had to erupt a conflagration of fire his way to provide him with additional steps in his path to safety.

But he came closer and closer to the other side and eventually, with several meters spanning the wide chasm between him and safety, he made the jump.

Cinder smirked and leapt after him, knowing that Emerald would probably make the jump as well.

The child soldier only barely managed to hit his landing, slamming both of his hands against the broken concrete that had once marked the beginning of the bridge. As he slowly and frantically pulled himself up, swatting at something unseen with his knife -he seemed to have lost his blade in the escape- Cinder landed on the solid ground as well, several meters away from him.

She did not check to see if her associates had made it as well. Instead, she slowly walked towards him, her heart beating faster and faster with every step. She wanted to be strong. Stronger than the animals that had stolen her away from her previous life. Strong enough to get payback. She had been forced to directly transfer the Fall Maiden's strength to her new master. But this one…this one would be hers.

Cinder would have never thought that the little Operative in front of her would have ever held such power as a Catalyst. When she had seen the files that her contact had published across Remnant, she had been so surprised. Even with the full access she enjoyed when reading their files, she had not been able to figure out what this girl was.

But now she knew.

He lay on the ground, convulsing and grunting as if he were stuck in a different nightmare than the one he was currently facing. His legs kicking. His knife, gripped in a death grip, pointed right at his own chest. Would he kill himself given the chance? Had his delusion seeped that deep?

Cinder felt her temperature spiking as she approached his struggling form. The carrier of a power unknown even to her. A power she would possess, no matter what.

"Don't worry my dear," she spoke, almost whispered, when she reached for the glove. A lesser person might have seen his desperate attempts to skewer his heart with his own knife as unnerving, but not her. "I have you."

Not Cinder. There was definitely something that he was seeing right now. Something he was fighting. Be it the drug abuse or just a feverish delirium, she didn't care. What she cared for was _her_.

She effortlessly swatted the pathetic weapon from his grip and in that instant, all his struggles ceased. He went limp, and fixes his eyes on hers. Those empty, meaningless orbs of gray, occasionally sparkling with the essence of _her_ soul. Rays of blue and green that shone through his soul. As if she was begging to be released.

She would have her, right this moment. She just needed to get rid of this empty shell of a boy that was keeping her imprisoned. For all of his power and prowess, he was worthless compared to what he carried inside him,

"In the end, all of Remnant was the same to you," Cinder said as she reached for her relic. She had been blessed with more than one of them and right now, she felt more blessed than ever. "They used you as a weapon. Used you, broke you and then cast you aside."

Cinder knelt next to him and donned the artifact that would allow her to take the girl's soul. Emerald limped towards her, carrying a wounded Mercury with her, but they were of no consequence now. Nothing was. Just her and the girl.

He would most likely not survive the transfer though. It was almost a waste of such a gifted attack dog. But dogs could be replaced, even extraordinaire ones like him. Neo had found one inside the Amity colosseum just recently.

"But I understand," Cinder whispered at the Catalyst, reaching for the side of the child soldier's face with the utmost care. She had rent his body enough. "And I will not waste this. You and I will do amazing things. You have my word."

The fallen soldier looked at her with wide eyes, like a child that had realized someone had betrayed it. Perhaps he did. Even when Cinder raised her glove and directed its malicious force at his face, he didn't take his eyes off of hers.

The lack of intimidation, though understood, was disconcerting. What went through his head now? Was he seeking comfort in the last thing he would see? The woman who would take his life, or the woman who would set him free of this cruel, twisted world?

In the end though, it mattered not. So Cinder allowed her Aura to flow through the device, channeling the vast power of her soul and will and rousing the entity that lay within. A black, corrosive web of corruption and darkness shot forth from the glove, striking the Operative in the face and establishing the connection.

At that very moment, she could see. She could reach out and _touch_. His soul, warped and stained by a life of warfare and pain, felt small and insignificant. It was a burnt-out and tattered husk. However, wrapped around it -utterly _intertwined_ with it- was a corona of white, pure force that radiated such brightness that it was difficult to bear. A brightness that betrayed a power unlike she had ever felt before. A vast field surrounding that little, torn soul of his, inseparable, but not at all indistinguishable. His soul, and the Catalyst's.

Hers was not without damage either. Whereas the boy was filled with gaps and gashes and holes, the girl had one specific point of blemish. One malformed area in the center of her soul, in the very core of her being, that was tainted and twisted beyond repair. Blackened and stained, like the soul of a Grimm.

Cinder felt a well of pity when she saw it. How could something so pure and so stunning be so damaged? It possessed such raw, unkempt beauty, yet it was so damaged, so blemished. What deeds had been committed to do such a thing? Even the boy's soul was not as damaged as that horrible, marred sight.

A feeling like this was difficult to understand. Cinder existed between two worlds, one on the outside and one on the inside. She felt the rocks underneath her knee, the cold air brushing past her skin and hair. But she also _saw_ the essence of the boy and the girl, what the innermost core of their souls were like. She could _feel_ the raw power that her presence exuded, surpassing that of even the Fall Maiden.

Cinder broadened her view and reached for the power that lay before her, seizing it just as she had seized her former teammate. She banished the image of the horrible scars on the souls in front of her and focused on the bigger picture. The Catalyst.

 _Hers_.

She _wrenched._

' _Oh, I don't think so.'_

Cinder gasped when the voice echoed in her mind, stronger and clearer than possible.

 _Impossible._

The connection rippled as… _something_ happened to it. The Catalyst's soul was fighting back. Fighting and winning within several heartbeats. It anchored their Aura in place and then forced Cinder back, away from the inner sanctum of their being and out into the world, where the limp Operative suddenly was not as limp anymore.

 _Impossible!_

This was physically impossible! The sheer stress that this forgotten curse inflected on one's body and soul was enough to cripple everyone and everything.

Cinder Fall could only watch with increasing fury and disbelief as his left hand wrapped around the shadowy tendrils attached to his face, while his right tore the last remaining knife from his chest-straps and neatly severed the connection. Just as the Huntsman had, all that time ago.

"No!"

The feedback of the torn connection sent Cinder reeling and she staggered backwards, even as Mercury and Emerald dashed forwards, towards the rising soldier. The smoldering patches of skin where the black substance had attached to were rapidly repairing themselves before Cinder's very eyes. Burnt skin and damaged flesh knitted back together within seconds and by the time both Mercury as Emerald reached him, he had fully recovered.

They would clash and people would die. And the raw, uncontrolled power of the Catalyst would be lost.

"Stop!" She snapped, and her underlings obeyed.

Greystone did not. In a violent display of strength, he slammed Mercury against the floor with enough force to completely separate the prosthesis he had damaged before and Emerald jumped aside, only surviving the clash because she had one last burst of her Semblance remaining with which to fool the rampaging Operative.

Cinder forged herself another sword and swung it at him right when he came for her. His hand, cold and unyielding like an iron gauntlet, wrapped itself around her neck even as she placed the sharp edge of her blade against his throat.

His movement stopped, his features twisted into surprise and shock.

"Why?" He softly muttered.

Cinder stayed her hand, smiling. The Catalyst had stopped him.

She had won.

"She's too dangerous," he said. His arms were trembling. "I- no…"

The girl wanted her to live. That could only mean one thing. The connection had been two-way. A mutual peak at their heart and soul. This was…new.

"It is such a shame that even I can't set you free," Cinder said. "Not on my own."

"We don't need her help," Will snapped. His eyes widened and he gritted his teeth. "But –"

So it was like that. A change of plan? Possibly. Very intriguing however. "I think we might be able to help each other," she said, smiling at the display of duality. So even after that display of violence and madness, he still obeyed her? It seemed that the blonde wasn't his only master. "Most of Remnant is out to hunt you and kill you on sight. Everybody wants to hurt you."

Will's eyes met hers and he quickly looked away, as if afraid to keep the eye contact. He even let go of her neck, too. "I know that."

This had to be very confusing for the dazed Emerald. The master illusionist had no clue what was going on.

The Operative glared at her again. Oh if looks could kill. "Under one condition."

"What?" Cinder replied, somewhat annoyed. Was he going to keep meddling with what could become a good partnership?

"You don't lay a finger on them, or anyone else," he growled at her. "Ruby and Weiss, Blake and Yang, leave them out of this."

Cinder smiled. "That is a small group to want to protect. Are you not worried about the other students?"

He didn't reply. Of course he didn't. They both knew the answer to that.

She glanced away from the Operative for a moment, looking at Emerald. The girl was nervously fiddling with Mercury's severed leg, which to this day hadn't even been bent in combat yet. Well, if she played her cards right, she never had to worry about that again. "If you play along with me Will…I can help you set her free. They won't be able to keep her hidden from you."

"I'll do it," he reluctantly said. He was desperate. She could see it in his eyes. Even the most powerful wall would break when mauled long enough and he had reached his limit some time ago. Now, he was fighting on borrowed time.

"Good boy," she said, reaching out and touching his cheek. He flinched and seemed to shrink under her touch. "Let's keep in touch."

With that, she let him go. To remove an enemy was a success. But to turn him into an ally was a victory. "Come," she told Emerald, who nervously looked down on the unconscious Mercury. "Our transport is close."

The master thief shot a dirty look at the Operative, but she didn't speak her mind.

When Cinder reached the treeline, she looked over her shoulder to see if he was still where she had left him behind.

He was. He had sunk through his knees, burying his face in his hands. The realization that you were aroused by violence and killing wasn't a realization that left you unchanged. After he and the Catalyst had talked about how this could have laid dormant for the better part of a year, young Greystone would have a lot to explain to his lady friends.

Hmm…this was a victory on her part and a sure defeat on his. And she would put it to good use.


	13. Chapter 13

_**Minesniper:**_ _probably not for those in his vicinity. He might not survive without it though ;)_

 _ **Tuutje07:**_ _I like improving on previous highlights. If understand you correctly, I managed to succeed in that regard. Nice. Not knowing what to think is a good thing; a story shouldn't tell you how to feel, it should just induce emotions and continue telling its tale._

 _ **Nphillips0115:**_ _I like to think of it as 'inspiration', but I have to admit that that particular scene was just so impressive_

 _Anyway, at this point one might doubt the value of life if it hast to be lived broken. :)_

* * *

 **Unidentified city**

 **Outer perimeter of Vale**

 **9 years ago**

 _A small city, isolated and insignificant. Abandoned by most of the brave Huntsmen and Huntresses who had sworn to protect it. Not enough manpower, not enough supplies._

 _Not enough time._

 _The Grimm had come faster than the leaders in Vale had anticipated. Faster than even Onyx had anticipated. The reinforcements would be an hour away at most. Time enough for the monsters to tear through the city and kill every last man, woman and child._

 _Nobody had learned from Mountain Glenn._

 _The sun slowly started to set and with it gone, the shadows that plagued the lands were emerging from their holes. Howls broke the silent air. A sign of the massacre that was about to come._

 _There was desperation. One final line of defense. The responsibility was his to bear once more._

 _Unfortunately for them, he had foreseen their attack. An hour without anyone to stop the Grimm would lead to another slaughter, more lost lives. But with him standing between the onslaught and the innocent people of Vale, things might just go differently._

 _Alan raised his head and glared at the desolated wasteland that was slowly starting to churn with activity. Wolves, bears, monsters. Shadows in the night, preying on the weak. Easily dozens of them. They would swarm past him and enter the city, commit the atrocities that had mankind on the run. They had done it before._

 _Not this time._

 _The young Operative reached for the improvised explosive at his side and carefully pulled it free. A mixture of chemicals, hormones and plain old human blood. It was supposed to drive the monsters mad with frenzy, making them attack anything within the radius of its influence._

 _Him._

 _This time would be different. There would be no crying children today. No weeping mothers. He just had to hold out for an hour until the Hunters would arrive. Until then…_

 _Operative Blackwood unsheathed his spear and calmly assumed his martial stance. He would be there to hold the line._

 _He activated the explosive and threw it to the ground in front of him. The device hit the rocks and bounced exactly three times before it detonated, disappearing in a cloud of red and black gasses and fluids._

 _Alan felt something wet hit his cheek and he smiled. They could not resist him now. Normally, the Grimm were attracted by wild emotions. Torrents of rage and despair and sorrow. This cocktail of filth seemed to get their attention as well, judging by the wild roars and screeches that were emanating from the soon-to-be battlefield. The wolves and the soulless were rising._

 _The Grimm charged. Fifteen Beowolves, eleven Ursai, two Nevermores and a King Taijitsu. A significant force. Enough to turn this city into rubble. However, they were mere beasts. Their tactics abysmal, their movements predictable. While far from slow, they were still a lumbering army._

 _One Beowolf overtook the others. A big one with spikes growing out of its back. It was as fast as a speeding truck. Probably carried even more force with it._

 _Alan transferred his spear from his left hand to his right. It was time._

 _The Beowolf thundered towards him and then leapt, extending both of its claws-_

 _-only for Blackwood to whirl his spear over his head and slam it down on the Grimm's head as it passed him by. The sharp blade easily sliced through the monster's skull and pinned it down to the ground, killing it instantly._

 _Threat eliminated._

 _The ground cracked underneath the impact and he instantly ripped his spear free again, readying himself for the next Grimm. He picked his target and moved._

 _Serenity. Focus. A warrior running wild._

 _There was only the steady beat of his heart, the rhythmic movement of his breathing. His body moved as directed by half a dozen year of training, without hesitation and without thought. With an upwards slice, his spear split the air and cracked open the skull of another Beowolf. Alan sidestepped an attack by a charging Ursai and sliced off one of its claws in the process, before thrusting the head of his spear straight into the maw of a third Grimm._

 _Constantly on the move, never standing still. What he lacked in strength he made up for in finesse and speed. Alan whirled around and struck the Ursa a second time as it came back for him, claiming its other limb._

 _The roars and screams. A pack of rabid beasts, shaking the very earth beneath his feet. The Beowolves and Ursai with their fangs and teeth, the Nevermores with their beaks and feathers. Try as they might, they could not harm him._

 _A soul could not be cut._

 _The enormous Nevermore swept across the land, showering the ground with its sword-like feathers like a great wind of destruction._

 _Blackwood kicked the mutilated Ursa in its head, dazing it and preventing it from escaping the death from above in time. One of the feathers skewered it from its shoulder all the way to the ground, finally releasing it from its existence of hunting and killing._

 _Such pitiful lives these beings possessed._

 _Alan transferred his spear from his right hand to his left again and allowed the Trance to take him over again. The storm of organic blades shot down from the skies above and riddled the land around him, but he remained unharmed. His spear was a flash of light as he whirled it around him, cutting through the massive feathers whenever they came too close to him._

 _The occasional Beowolf strode too close to him and received a mortal injury for its trouble. The broken and shattered remains of black pieces of feather slowly fell down around him and when the last one had been cut asunder, he moved._

 _The Death Stalker came crashing down on top of him, but he was already on top of it._

 _Ten eyes, brain hidden behind protective plates. Alan allowed his training to take over control and he slipped deeper into the serene Trance that would dictate his movements. He gripped his spear with both hands and unleashed a series of flashing blows, blinding the giant Grimm one eye at a time. The red head of his weapon dug deep into the creature´s eyes and black liquid pore down from its gaping wounds as they deepened and multiplied._

 _In that moment, time was a flux for the young Operative. In the several heartbeats it took him to stab out all ten eyes of the monstrosity below him, it managed to get its tail up for a counterstrike._

 _Blackwood felt the shift in the air and moved accordingly. He slammed his spear down with all his strength, barely managing to slip it in-between the protective plates that covered the creature's head. His right hand went for the protruding hilt of the sword on his back._

 _The Death Stalker screeched and brought its stinger down with enough force to shear straight through an armoured car. However, it never found its mark. Entrusting his heart to the flow of his blade, Alan drew it forth in the blink of an eye. Unmatched in speed and force, he neatly separated the stinger from the Stalker's tail with a single strike and sheathed his sword before the creature ever understood what had happened to it. His hands immediately returned to his spear, which he ripped free from the Grimm's plating. An Alpha Beowolf leapt at him and he jumped up and away from the Stalker, landing on top of the wolf to gain more leverage._

 _Somewhere in the zen-state of no thoughts, Blackwood understood that one slipup could mean his death. He was not physically strong enough yet to dispatch these Grimm using brute force. A mistake when fighting humans could be rectified. Death could be cheated with them. Not with these merciless beasts. A mistake would mean his end._

 _He kicked off and leapt in the air, brandishing his spear with both hands. The Death Stalker was trashing around, blinded and disarmed of its rear weapon. Nonetheless it could not be missed as a target._

 _And Alan didn't miss. His body was seized by gravity and spun once before he struck, which he did with the force and precision of lightning, straying from the thunder. His spear found its mark right in the weakened segment of the Grimm's armour, punching through it and straight into its brain._

 _The Stalker screamed and died._

 _Hostile down._

 _As Blackwood fought, the air became thick with the escaping vapours of the disintegrating Grimm bodies. He took several glancing hits, which depleted his Aura to the point that his clothes were getting increasingly-more ragged and torn as the fight raged on. He wondered where the Nevermore had gone, but was glad that it was not harassing him anymore. He had seen men and women impaled by those feathers and it was a disgusting and horrible sight._

 _The King Taijitsu circled the battlefield, constantly attempting to strike Alan when he was busy fending off the lesser Grimm. Each time he would avoid its strike at the last moment and deliver upon it a gruesome injury. But the two ends worked together well enough that, even with one eye remaining, it could still coordinate its attacks._

 _Blackwood stumbled and caught the hook of a razor-sharp claw at the back of his left leg. It ripped through skin and flesh and carved a deep trail of crimson through the limb. He gritted his teeth and decapitated the Beowolf responsible for the attack, but by then it was too late. With his movements impaired, the Taijitsu had no reason to stay on the defensive._

 _So it didn't. It surged towards him with its maw wide open, wide enough to swallow an Ursa whole._

 _Surprised, Alan dropped his spear and grabbed his sword, swinging just as the jaws closed around him. He ripped through the creature's skull from the inside out and kicked his spear up again. The ground was trembling and he could nearly feel the murderous savagery of the monsters around him. Dark claws appeared inside the opening he had created as three Beowolves leapt on top of the dead Taijitsu's skull, not patient enough to wait for the serpent to start fading away._

 _He would not deny them their prize. He thrust his spear out and impaled one of the wolves just as the massive Grimm around him started disintegrating in its totality._

 _Wounded, but not crippled._

 _The tremors grew stronger with each passing second. As Alan slew the Beowolves that sought to prey on his weakened and bloody frame, he started feeling it in his heart. It was with a terrible sense of foreboding that he came to understood that it was not the sensation of a predator stalking its prey. No, it was the thunder one could hear long before the storm._

 _The last Ursa collapsed and Blackwood pierced his skull with an overhanded strike, pinning its lifeless body to the ground. Blood poured down from his various wounds, but that worried him the least. He could hear rocks shattering and the ground shaking itself apart._

 _Alan turned around to face the new threat and was stricken by an influx of conflicting emotions._

 _A Goliath, huge and armoured, was making its way towards the city with massive, thundering strides. It was big -too big for anyone to take out on their own._

 _He gritted his teeth in frustration. It took an entire team of seasoned Hunters to take such a monstrosity out and even then, the landscape would be absolutely devastated._

 _Alan looked down at his hands, which were slippery and bloody. There was no way he could kill this thing on his own._

 _Would throwing his life at this thing accomplish anything? Slow it down? The Huntsmen and Huntresses were bound to be here soon, right? If he could distract the Goliath…offer it a better prey than the terrified and praying civilians of this fringe city._

 _He clenched his fists and shook his head. At a moment like this, a decision was made before you could even think about it. You took the moment and you would decide not to cower and crash down to the ground. Of course the Hunters would not be here in time, because he was here now. To make up for that. There was never any doubt._

 _That was a shame. Because he would not walk away now. His blood for theirs then. Again._

 _Alan glared at the Goliath and picked up his weapon. He had enough blood to spare!_

 _Perhaps sensing his resolution, the Goliath turned its massive head and glared at him._

" _There goes another one," he muttered, pocketing the High-Explosive grenade that he had spared for this occasion. Few things made Sergeant Dusk happy. Even more made him unhappy. Breaking perfectly good weapons for bad reasons made him unhappy enough for violence. However, weapons were tools. Growing attached to them was foolish. Weapons existed to kill Grimm and protect humans. So, Dusk would have to forgive him this time. Alan had specifically modified the spear for this purpose. One last hurrah, he liked to think._

 _The Goliath seemed to accept his challenge. The giant beast turned away from the city walls and towards young Blackwood, who calmly mounted the High-Explosive grenade near the bottom of his spear and secured it there._

 _There was a slight limp in his gait, he noticed. The wound must have been worse than he thought. A part of him wanted to stick around after the fight to get medical care and prevent it from getting infected. Then he could also demand of the Hunters why they were so late. They were the heroes and heroes weren't supposed to be late!_

 _At least, so thought he. For all he knew though, the Hunters could be fighting an even more urgent battle. They could be risking their lives out there._

 _Were it so easy._

 _The enormous Grimm was now completely focused on Alan and gaining momentum. It was absolutely huge; easily towering over most buildings and trees. Once such a thing gained momentum, nothing could stop it._

 _The Goliath stormed towards him in a mad stampede, lowering its head for the strike. Each of its tusks were longer than a battle tank and sharp enough to pierce them on impact. Its white mask, marking it as one of the oldest foes of mankind, was at least several inches thick. Too thick for even bullets to pierce._

 _Ignoring the pain in his leg, Alan broke into a flat sprint. His spear he held behind him as he moved to intercept the enormous killer. Grimm like these were tough, but they were not invulnerable. He had seen them slain before and on his blood he would see this one slain as well!_

 _The Goliath swung with its head, gauging massive trenches into the ground and ripping up hundreds of pounds of sand and rocks._

 _Operative Blackwood jumped, using what little remained of his Aura to give him a well-needed boost. Then, he lunged with his spear and dug it deep into the beast's enormous tusk. Its bony trunk was as thick as an ancient oak and many times tougher. Its mass easily withstood the bite of Alan's spear, but that did not matter. What mattered was that its head lodged itself into the massive tusk, securing him for his next move._

 _His body propelled upwards with the rest of his momentum, the young Operative flung himself right on top of the ghostly-pale appendage. Then, he ripped his spear free and started running._

 _The Goliath finished swinging its head and realized that its prey had not only managed to escape its attack, but had also succeeded in climbing on top of it. It went berserk, madly thrashing with its head in an attempt to fling the human off._

 _Alan would not be deterred and he refused to be intimidated. He pushed all of his fear and horror deep within his heart and lunged for the creature's head. Its mask was as large as a building, but every building could be torn down._

 _He took his spear and took a swipe at the Goliath's red eye-socket, but the head of his spear easily bounced off, leaving only a scratch on top of the bony plates protecting its eye. The second strike managed to break through, but the weapon embedded itself into its mask and got stuck._

 _So it would be like this._

 _Another tremor ran through the beast and Alan was nearly thrown off. With lightning reflexes, he ripped a combat knife from his thigh and buried it deep within the creature's mask, a movement which he would only perform once, as the process ruined his blade._

 _The massive eye shifted and settled on Blackwood, and he could feel the creature's malice. He could feel its desire to crush him and destroy this city._

 _With his free hand, Alan pulled his sword free and struck at its socket. Time seemed to move in slow motion, as the creature´s movements suddenly slowed down. He released the handle of his knife and, wielding his sword with both hands, unleashed a long series of slashes at his target. His sword left deep gauges in the Goliath´s armour and with each swipe, its integrity grew weaker and weaker. Standing on top of the enormous Grimm, with only his two feet to keep himself attached, were the longest seconds of his life. They dragged by as he tirelessly slashed away at the white armour, until his arms went numb and his sword shattered on the gaping wound._

 _Nearly there, Alan thought. His muscles were burning and exhaustion bordered on the edges of his consciousness, but he was nearly there._

 _The Goliath opened its maw and unleashed a mighty roar, which sook the land and nearly send the Operative falling to his death. He only barely managed to hold on by quickly grabbing his spear, which was still stuck in its armour._

 _And the grenade was still attached._

 _This was going to hurt._

 _Alan gripped the spear as tight as he could and heaved, slowly freeing the weapon from its prison. His shoulders ached in protest and he screamed from exertion and adrenaline, until the final inches shot free and the spear shot loose._

 _He laughed with mad glee and pulled the pin on the grenade, waited exactly three heartbeats and then jumped up and away from the Goliath._

 _The explosive went off half a second after he flung it, transferring all of his Aura into the throw for maximum force. The blast washed him and scorched his clothing, but he did not care. The spear surged towards the shredded armour around the beast's eye with all the force of a tank shell and ripped straight through its eye._

 _Together, the Goliath and the Operative crashed into the ground, which shook under its massive weight. Alan was thrown completely free of its body and rolled half a dozen meters over the ground, before coming to a painful stop against some rocks. His eyes immediately locked on the fallen form of the massive Grimm and he frantically reached for his sword._

 _However, it did not stir. The Goliath was still and soon, vapours started to come from its massive body. It slowly started to disintegrate, leaving behind only a memory of its nightmarish struggle against mankind's existence._

 _Threat neutralized._

 _Alan gasped in surprise and delight, even though he had probably broken something in the fall. It was dead. Dead!_

 _He had just killed a Goliath. A mature Goliath, on his own! He had single-handedly wiped out the Grimm attack and saved the city! Those people were alive because of him!_

 _Warm feelings of satisfaction and joy slowly spread through his body, this time genuine. Not guilt-inducing like with people. This time, he had killed and it was good. Now he was an actual soldier!_

 _An ear-piercing screech shook him out of his stupor and he turned around, just in time to see the giant feather tearing through the air._

 _That damn Nevermore!_

 _Alan cursed in alarm and threw himself aside, but he was too slow. The spear-like projectile clipped him in his side, easily shearing through flesh and one of his ribs, which shattered with all the loudness of a gunshot. He crashed to the ground, clutching his side in agony. Fire shot through his chest and he couldn't breathe. Couldn't even move._

 _Dark spots danced in front of his eyes as he desperately tried to crawl away from the massive bird of prey. He chocked a cry, but nobody heard him._

 _Damnit, where were his weapons?_

 _The Nevermore didn't let him go. It circled around and went straight for the kill. Alan closed his eyes and forced himself to stand up, despite the fact that he could barely see from the pain. Blood freely poured from his side and every breath he took only served to worsen the pain._

 _He wasn't allowed to give up. His heart told him to give in and let go, but his body refused to die. It forced him to stand up, keep fighting. Stare death in its eyes until it took him and ripped him apart._

 _What happened next, took place too fast for him to understand. Or maybe his mind had started fading away already. There was a flash of red and the Nevermore was no longer in one piece. It collapsed to the ground without its head and the impact of its body caused Alan to lose his footing. His knees simply gave up and he fell, but his body never actually hit the ground._

 _Trying to blink away the shadows that crept in his vision, the fallen Operative saw something that he would never, ever forget. A sight that burned itself into his very soul and, perhaps, even his heart._

 _The woman was beautiful. Her head was hidden under a cloak that was as white as snow, but because of the angle, he could see her features perfectly._

 _Angle…ah, he was lying. But there were arms wrapped around his body. Was he dead? Were these the last moments of his soul, comforted by the presence of…well, what else could she be if not an angel?_

 _She said something to him, but he didn't understand. He was too captivated by the sheer and genuine worry that her face showed. Long, red bangs of hair hung from underneath her hood, mixed with the occasional strand of black._

 _So beautiful._

 _Again, her lips moved and again, Alan did not hear what she said. Her hand moved near his wound, but he was too tired to stop her._

 _Why couldn't he take his eyes off of hers? Was it the kindness that lay hidden in those large orbs of silver? It had been a while since he had seen such human eyes from this close. And now the roles were reversed. Now he was comforted in his dying moments instead of the other way around. And she wasn't even too late, unlike him._

 _Who was she?_

 _The darkness in his eyes grew worse and by the time he could see again, the world had changed. No sand, no stones, no city. Just wood now._

 _Where was he?_

 _Puzzled, Alan attempted to get up. He didn't get far though; a lance of pain shot through his spine and he quickly lay back down again._

" _Don't try to move," a friendly and soothing voice told him._

 _The young Operative looked in its direction and was confronted by a familiar sight. The white-cloaked woman, sitting in a chair with her hands folded on top of her lap._

 _Silver eyes._

 _There was no doubt about it now; she was a Huntress._

 _Despite the confusion and burning pain, Alan felt a feeling of delight wash over him. Finally, he got to meet one in person and this time, they were even on the same side_

 _He tried to crawl back to his feet again to salute her, but she stood next to him in a heartbeat._

" _Easy," she told him. She lowered her hood and smiled at him. "You're safe now."_

 _Alan's heart skipped a beat when he discovered bandages around his chest. He wanted to ask her foir her name, but that would be impolite. He wanted to thank her, but that would only confirm his own failure to stay sharp. So in the end, he settled for the most obvious. "What happened to the civilians?"_

" _They lived," she replied. "All of them. I wish I could have arrived sooner, but our way was barred by the Grimm. You saved their lives today. You should be proud."_

 _Disgusted with himself that he had failed to see a giant Nevermore, that was what he should be. "I just did my duty, ma'am," he said._

 _In what had to be the most unexpected and surprising gesture of the day, the Huntress reached out and ran her hand through his hair. A show of affection, for him?_

" _I wish every Huntsman had the same concept of duty that you hold," she warmly told him. "You did something amazing today! What is your name?"_

 _Alan was halfway through giving her his own name when he remembered that he was not even supposed to call himself that anymore. "Blackwood, ma'am. Operative Blackwood."_

 _Her smile faded and a chill crept down his spine. Had she heard that alias before? "You are an Operative?" She quietly asked him. "So young?"_

 _He nodded, not knowing whether that would bring any harm to him. And he wasn't that young. He was already twelve; he had been fighting and killing for three years now._

" _I see. So what is your name?"_

" _That's classified, ma'am."_

" _Classified? Just as classified as fighting and defeating a Goliath on your own?"_

 _She kept returning to that. He was glad that she appreciated what he had done; he believed that this was the worst injury he had gathered in months. He truly could not wait until he awoke his Semblance. It would probably increase his fighting ability even more. "What is your name, ma'am?"_

 _Her smile returned. "My name is Summer Rose. You do not need to call me ma'am, young one. Summer will suffice."_

 _Summer Rose…she had such beautiful eyes. It was almost as if they weren't human. As if she was more than human._

 _It was a stupid thought, but he allowed it to keep existing. He was in pain, he was allowed weird thoughts._

 _He wanted to meet her again, when he had grown up. Show her what he could do when he had reached the peak of his prowess. Nobody would ever have to cry again under his watchful eye and she would never have to risk her life again._

* * *

 **Beacon Academy**

 **3 hours before next Tournament fight**

Yang wasn't the type to question. Never had been, never would be. So actually finding Will in his own room, lying on his bed? Alive and well? That was just fine. No problem with that. She didn't ask and he didn't tell. That was probably an important part of their relationship; his youth was something he never talked about, filled with things that Yang would not ask about until he was ready.

And there was something she really wanted to do with him right now. Well, two things. Well…he was two things. It was complicated. But apart from that, she really wanted to watch a Tournament match with him and hear what he thought about the way young would-be-Hunters duked it out together. Jaune's team had been formidable -not as good as her own team- and Lisa's team was really shaping up to be another group of badasses on their own.

Although he might just see them as threats to his wellbeing…

Right now, Will was lagging behind somewhat. It was odd, but Yang didn't really think anything about it. He was listening with rapt attention to what she had to say and she liked that. Boys generally weren't interested in _talking_ with her. Their eyes were always a bit too low to hold a proper conversation. "So yeah, basically, dad gave me house arrest for over a week."

He only grunted in response.

Alright, _normally_ he listened to her with rapt attention. He wasn't really here with his head, probably. Still, if there was something wrong, he only had to say it. "You sure you're alright? You're being rude."

"I'm sorry," he replied. "It's…just…I'm a bit dizzy."

Yang stopped and turned around, taking a closer look at him. He looked tired and shaken. Guilty, even. He practically shied away from her gaze, which wasn't very much like him. Sure, he didn't like it when she stared at him during normal times, but now it looked like he thought himself naked or something.

"Dizzy?" Yang replied. She didn't remember him having complained about that before. That was new. She was curious now; just what kept him busy these days? "What did you _do_ yesterday?"

Will stopped to lean against the wall for a few moments, reaching for his head as if he could rub the dizziness out. "Discovered some things I didn't _like_. It will not…affect my combat efficiency."

"Combat-what?" That made no sense at all. "Will, nobody is asking you about that."

He lowered his head, which made his grey-blonde hair fall in front of his eyes.

"Hey, you alright?" Yang asked.

"We weren't made for two souls at once…"

Now he was officially starting to creep her out. Normally, Yang would have immediately shaken him out of his weirdness, but this one felt different. For once, she felt somewhat threatened by him. Something was just off. "What did you find yesterday? What happened?"

He didn't respond. He was staring at the floor as if it had threatened him with physical violence.

There was an oppressive aura in the air and Yang did much feel for it. She scowled and took a step in his direction. "Can you quit that?"

"It's like…the more I remember…the worse it gets." He sounded like he was struggling to find the words -struggling under the stress of pain. Yang was seriously contemplating getting a teacher for help. "The human mind isn't _built_ for two souls. That's…that's why they only made a few catalysts."

Only a few? Onyx had done this to _more_ girls? "Is that why you keep searching for Ancilla's body? To escape the damage it does to your mind?"

"No," he said. No, more like groaned. "I just want to get her home…"

Yang looked over her shoulder to check if there was anyone near. "The medical bay is just a floor up. Do you want me to get help? Will?"

He didn't respond. He slowly let go of his head and stared at a point on the floor, roughly in-between them. He didn't blink.

"Will?" she asked. He was officially freaking her out now.

"There's something wrong with the floor," he muttered. Then, before Yang's eyes, his knees gave in and he slid down the wall to the ground,

Not wasting a single second, Yang leapt towards him and caught him before his head could hit the ground. "Will, hey! What's wrong! Can you hear me?"

This didn't look good. His eyes were open, but he didn't respond. Not at all. What was wrong with him? Was he ill?

Yang quickly checked to see if he was still alive and was relieved to feel him breathing, as well as a pulse. But something was definitely wrong! His breathing was all wrong and hitching and…and he wasn't moving.

She needed a doctor. A real one, not an Oobleck.

"I know you don't like this," she said, carefully picking his up from the ground. He felt bony and light and weak. Damnit, a fighter of his caliber should know how important it was to stay healthy! "But we have to get you some help. Come on, stay with me."

No response. Was this because of Ancilla? Were the two souls in his body driving him nuts? Or had something happened yesterday that had caused this? Damnit, she hated not knowing! It was the worst!

The medical bay wasn't all that busy right now. Thankfully, there was only one person currently working in the medical department. There was one problem though: that person was Professor Matt Adamant.

Yang considered turning around and leaving, she really did. The man was a good teacher and he had his heart in the right spot, but he had his moments of being a complete moron at best and an utter lunatic at worst.

Then again, special situations needed special solutions.

"Professor Adamant," Yang said. "I need help."

Matt turned around, holding a scroll that he was very focused on. He cast one glance Yang's direction, saw the unconscious person she was holding and immediately threw the device away. "Dear lord, what did you do to him?" He called as he rushed towards her.

"I didn't do a thing!" Yang replied with indignity. "We were just talking when he just, I don't know, shut off."

"Shut off?" Matt repeated, before gently helping her place Will on one of the beds. "Like a machine?"

"No! I mean, yeah. Kinda. He said some weird things that sounded like nonsense and then he collapsed!"

The Professor quickly marched over to one of the tables and pulled a large piece of paper and a pencil, virtually out of nowhere. "Right…William Greystone, age…age?"

Yang shrugged. "I dunno. Seventeen?"

"Seventeen…symptoms…Ruby…"

Yang blinked. "What now?"

"Yang!" The familiar voice of her younger sister then said, much to Yang's relieve. "You're here!" Ruby ran into the medical bay and came to an awkward stop near the bed, nearly tripping over the Adamant's discarded Scroll. "What happened?"

"How did you know where to find me?" Yang could only ask. She was surprised that her sister would show up so soon. "Did you use Zwei?"

"I was texting her," Matt said with a distracted voice. Somehow, he had managed to find a pair of glasses while writing the dossier and was now wearing them. The wrong way. "When you arrived."

"Ehm…Prof? You were fiddling with your Scroll for like, three seconds."

"I read papers. I'm pretty sure I have one over here somewhere…girls, if you could make sure no violence takes place while I'm looking for it, that'd be lovely." And with that, the Professor promptly walked into one of the offices.

"Does he even have a medical license?" Ruby then quietly asked.

Yang shrugged. "The same way Oobleck does, I guess."

"That can't be good." Ruby sat down on one of the chairs and shot Will a glance. "So what happened?"

"I have no idea. One minute we're walking, next minute he talks gibberish and sinks through his knees. He said something about minds not being built for two souls."

"Ancilla?" Ruby then quickly said, much to Yang's surprise.

"How did you-? Did he tell you too?"

Ruby nodded. "Yup. Right before those rogue Atlas soldiers attacked us. I didn't believe it at first, but then she stopped him from killing one of them. Just like that, I guess."

Professor Adamant returned with a bunch of things that didn't look remotely important. He placed a needle on the table, placed a paper covered with images and all kinds of words that Yang didn't understand on top of it and then drew a circle around one of the images. It looked like a Grimm, but Yang wasn't sure.

"What's house arrest?" Someone then asked, and it was not the Professor.

"Will!" Ruby exclaimed, nearly flinging herself around his shoulders. He grunted with discomfort and carefully scraped her off. "You're saying words!"

Still not making sense though. "House arrest?" Yang repeated, crossing her arms over her chest. "Who said-"

"You did," he replied, clumsily petting Ruby's head.

Ah…right. Dad, house arrest. Her bad.

"When Yang goes to some club and stays up after hours to hang out with people double her age, dad forbids her from leaving home for a week," Ruby then said in one breath, much to Yang's annoyance.

"Thank you for that," she said. "Why is that a thing? Why tell him _that_?"

"Good morning," Professor Adamant interrupted them. "You're awake! Good. There are some things I need to tell you, so it's good you're actually aware of my questions."

Yang heard someone entering as well, and glanced over her shoulder to see who was joining them _this_ time.

It was Professor Goodwitch. Fantastic.

"Professor Goodwitch?" Ruby yelped. "P-Professor! What are you doing here?"

"I arrived as soon as I received Professor Adamant's text," the stern woman replied, before stepping closer to Will and observing him closely.

His attitude changed immediately upon her entry. His face became a mask of impassiveness and he clenched his fists. He went full hostile.

Yang wouldn't advise the teacher to get so close to Will. He didn't bite, but there was risk of other, less pleasant things.

"You texted Miss Goodwitch too?" Ruby weakly asked. "Why?"

"Yes, well, everyone of importance to this scenario is here now. As the leader of team RWBY, this concerns you greatly. Professor Goodwitch is here for national security.

"I'm not following you," Yang replied. "Did you figure out what's wrong with him? Medically?"

"Hmm…William, both you and Coco Adel became the victim of a certain type of Grimm, during the recent invasion of Vale. Do you remember the Tormentor Grimm during the Breach event?" Matt said, completely ignoring Yang's question. "

Will probably took as much offense at Matt using his name as Yang did at being ignored, but he masked it perfectly. "Yes."

"Good. Do you remember what effect it had on you?"

Will nodded. "Yes."

"Professor, I don't see why this is relevant-"

Goodwitch cut Yang off with a stern look, but Professor Adamant actually took the effort to reply this time. "It is very important, Miss Xiao Long, because both Coco as mister Greystone here were brought to this very room in a state of harmful unconsciousness, brought on by the Tormentor. And it is relevant, because we were forced to use several brain scans to find out just what was wrong with them. Thankfully, we did not find anything wrong with the brain of Miss Adel. However, Will, we _did_ find something with you."

What, physically?

Professor Adamant took off his glasses and stuffed them into his pocket. "We found out that you were suffering from a rare case of progressive, degenerative dementia. Are suffering, I should say."

Will looked away. "I know."

Well, then he was the only one. Ruby tilted her head in confusion and Yang didn't understand either.

"Progre-whatnow?"

"Speak any other languages, Prof?"

Goodwitch and Adamant shared a strange look together and Yang couldn't stop focusing on Goodwitch´ weapon, which she was holding in her hand for some reason. "Dementia," Professor Adamant then said, with no small amount of unease in his voice, "is a brain disorder that, in his case, can´t be treated."

Things got really quiet after that. Adamant seemed to understand that this was one of those rare situations where it was better to keep his mouth shut and even Professor Goodwitch, ever the one to break up tense situations with a healthy dose of rationality and sense of purpose, seemed to be at a loss of words.

Yang doubted she would ever find the right words to say. A brain disease that couldn't be cured? Will? He was _made_ out of overcoming these things! It was basically his Seblance to heal with him the things others did to him! How could someone like him, who had survived enough wars and fights to fill a lifetime of a veteran Huntsman, suffer from something so…so subtle as a brain disorder? It wasn't right!

And just like that, her disbelief turned to anger. "What do you mean, in his case?" Yang loudly demanded. This was all crap! Lies, it couldn't be true! His Semblance healed him from anything, she had witnessed it work! "We've got Aura and all this fancy equipment, why can't we treat it! Why can't he simply use his Semblance and fix it!"

"Because I've had it for a year now," Will softly said. He was looking at Yang now, looking genuinely saddened. "Just never realized it. Ancilla managed to stave it off, but…I never really stood a chance."

 _Ancilla…_ if this were true, he had been suffering from this thing for months. Well before he went out to search for her.

"Even a rare and powerful healing Semblance like your own cannot repair neural tissue damage," Matt then quietly told Will. It was like a doctor telling his patient it had mere days to live.

Yang racked her mind trying to find something, anything, that could change this. It was all so sudden, so…so unreal. One moment she had been getting pumped for LACG's fights, now she learned that her boyfriend was basically dying of a brain disease.

Her search only left her with another question. What caused this? If the two souls were ruining his mind, all he needed to do was find a way to release that soul.

A mind was like the link between a soul and a brain. That was where the key to this lay. If only she knew how this worked though…she wasn't smart enough to find the solution.

She didn't need to be. "Will, tell them. Tell them about Ancilla!"

"Tell us about who?" Professor Goodwitch replied, crossing her arms.

Will looked like she had just hit him in the face or something. "Yang, I can't-"

Yang ignored the hurt and -did she dare interpret it as betrayed? – expression on his face and said, "Tell them about her! If it means it can help treat this thing-"

"They wouldn't believe it," Will said, gesturing with his head at Goodwitch. " _She_ wouldn't."

Wow, he really didn't like her, did he? No choice.

"It's worth a shot," Ruby countered. "If this…dementia-thing started because Onyx fiddled with your souls, all we need to do is unfiddle it, right?"

"What are you three on about? What has Onyx to do with William's medical condition?" Professor Goodwitch demanded.

Will clenched his teeth and scowled, but he relented. "When I was young, a woman asked me if I wanted to fight better. Kill more efficient. She was Professor Karen Greene, the most brilliant and foulest person to ever work with Onyx. I said yes."

Wait, kill more efficiently? That didn't sound like a good reason to do anything.

"How old were you then?" Matt asked him.

"Thirteen," Will replied. No eye-contact. He stared at his lap, as if he could escape his reality by simply wishing it away. It was sad to see. Yang wanted to reach out and offer him her hand, but she didn't know if he wanted that. "They ehm…I don't remember much. There was…w-weeks of screaming in my head, sometimes outside it. Later reports…indicated that I had attempted six counts of murder and two counts of s-suicide. All prevented by present military forces. "

He was trying _so_ hard to keep his voice steady and calm, like he didn't care. But Yang could hear the occasional breaks in his voice, the subtle cracks in his emotionless mask. She knew about Ancilla, but she had never heard him talk about the procedure. It was horrible. All the more reason to shut Onyx down.

"What happened then?" Professor Adamant urged him on. He sounded like he was trying to be kind, but how genuine was that?

"Then, the memories. None of them mine, but all…but all of them _mine._ I felt things that I shouldn't feel, thought things I shouldn't think. There me, but there was also her. It's…it's difficult to explain."

"You're doing fine!" Ruby said with a sly smile. "Keep going."

"I can't…" Will looked at Yang, giving her a pained look that was practically _begging_ her to step in. "I don't want to. Please don't make me!"

Yang felt her heart clench, but she couldn't bring herself to look away. Whether this was Ancilla or Will begging her did not matter. They wanted her to make him stop, save him from having to keep talking about a subject that was obviously taking more from him than they could muster. It was like telling an exhausted and wounded child to march on another few miles.

She wouldn't stand for that.

Yang stepped closer to him and placed her hand on his shoulder, gently but firmly pulling back against his bed. "Onyx took the soul of a young girl and forcibly Bonded it to his. She's _living_ inside of his body, hearing us right now."

Man, it was even freakier if she put it like that. She could almost forgive Goodwitch for reacting as she did.

"What nonsense," Glynda immediately said. "Completely fusing one soul with another is physically impossible. It cannot be done. Whatever you may think Onyx did to you-"

Upon hearing her disapproval, Matt's entire attitude shifted. "Nonsense? I would not be so certain. After all, the story closely resembles that of the ancient Bonded Warriors of the old times. Horribly twisted and deconstructed, of course."

Yang saw a strange glimmer in the Adamant's eyes. She seriously doubted his motivations, but hey! At least someone who believed them!

"You are joking me," Glynda said with a deadpan expression. "The Bonded Warriors utilized meditation and intimate relationships to gain their Soulbond. You cannot force it."

" _You_ can't force it," Will quietly replied. Yang always assumed that she was pretty intimidating when pissed off, all red-eyes and flaming hair, but his kind of pissed off was a completely different way of scaring the piss out of people. The tranquil fury. "That doesn't mean someone else can't."

"Indeed," Matt replied, sitting down on one of the beds and victoriously crossing his legs. "We all know that Onyx is willing to go farther than anyone has ever farthed-"

"That isn't a word," Ruby whispered.

"And unfiddling is?" Yang whispered back.

"-and you and I both know it is very possible to keep a girl in artificial coma while things happen or will happen with her soul."

"I am not going to discuss this with you," Professor Goodwitch then declared. "However, if you are somehow able to prove this meaningless assertion, I might reconsider my stance. Until then, you have a patient to take care of. And with you, I mean Beacon's well-trained and well-equipped medical staff. I-"

"I need to find her," Will then said, interrupting the Professor. Always a dangerous thing to do. "It's not important what happens to me, but she has a right!"

"While your presence can not be linked to the case, we still have a dozen dead officers of justice from Vacuo who died this week," Professor Goodwitch said. "Now more than ever can we not allow you to leave Beacon grounds, Mister Greystone, on additional grounds of mental instability."

"She has the right to live her own life!" Will then yelled, jumping upright with such decisive force that Yang nearly feared he was going to attack the Professor then and there. "I will find her!"

Glynda spoke her next one with such a soft voice that Yang knew it was on, and that every hope of solving this without more problems had been flung out the window. "Professor Ozpin has been lenient so far. But now, in addition to crimes of war and wanton violence, we have a scenario of a serious mental illness. Enough for men with unfriendly intent to lock you away for good. I suggest you keep yourself very, very calm."

And with that, the caped Professor turned around and left the medical bay, leaving another painful moment of deafening silence.

"Will?" Ruby then carefully asked.

Yang looked at him, fearing what she might see. There was a hint of something else in his eyes now. Something much, much more dangerous than she had ever seen with him before. A flash of deep purple in his normally-grey eyes, lasting only for a split-second but assuring Yang that there was now, officially, something terribly wrong with her friend.

Yes, it lasted only for a split-second before it faded away, together with what malicious intent he might have felt there. He sank back in the bed and turned away from Yang and Ruby.

One additional moment of silence followed, which lasted even shorter before Professor Adamant broke it with such enthusiasm that Yang doubted he had even understood what his colleague had said. "Alright, I´ll prepare the tests. If we´re going to present this case to the Headmaster, we´ll need as much evidence as we can gather. And then some more."

Will didn't reply.

"Ehm…Professor?" Yang asked. "Do you…do you think he can come to see LACG's fight?"

"No. Thin ice, Miss Xiao Long. Very thin indeed. I think we better keep him as far away from the battlefield as possible, artificial or not."

He had a point. A good one.

Yang glanced at Will one final time, wishing that she could say or do something to make him feel better. Anything. But if finding Ancilla meant raiding Onyx bases, he was going to need Alice's help, not theirs.

She hated feeling so useless. All of her strength, all of her prowess and she still couldn't do anything.

Well, if anything, there was most likely a way to make up for this. And Yang would find it. For now, a few hours of rest would most likely do him good.

* * *

 _Hello Frost. You probably don´t know me. My name is General Randall Eventide, and I saved your soul. However, I could not save your life. Frost Schnee died in that pit._

 _So who am I?_

 _What remains of Frost Schnee. You are Frost. A savior, a murderer._

 _Frost._

"Frost! You listenin'?"

The young Onyx soldier snapped back to reality when he heard the sharp voice of his impatient partner and he quickly took a glance at his wrist-mounted Scroll.

 **Beacon Academy**

 **Unidentified rooftop**

 **2 hours before next Tournament match**

He sighed. "Sure."

"Then take the shot."

Frost peered down the scope of his Sniper Rack again, slowly realigning the crosshairs with the head of Weiss Schnee. His finger inched near the trigger, but not quite on it.

"You weren't listening; you were zoning away like an idiot again!" The Faunus replied. She was so noisy.

"It´s a difficult decision," Frost quietly replied. His trigger-finger trembled, but he still kept himself from pulling it. They were unaware of his position, which meant that their Aura would be weakened. In addition, the huge stopping power behind his rifle, coupled with its specialized munition, would easily shear through the thin layer of Aura that would protect them. One shot, one kill.

Amber sat back and scratched her left Faunus ear. "Why difficult? You hate them both."

"That doesn't mean I have to kill them both. My orders are to decapitate the Schnee Dust Company's heritance. Not eliminate their offspring."

"So pull the trigger."

Again Frost sighed. It used to be so much simpler when he didn't know the people he killed. "Winter Schnee is a respectable member of the Atlas Military Corporation. Killing her will result in war with the Atlas forces."

"So kill the little one."

"Weiss Schnee has proven to be an exceptional student and gifted member of team RWBY."

Amber fell silent for a few moments, during which Frost contemplated the nature of his freedom of choice. Why did they let him pick? What good was having the freedom to decide on whose life to end?

"I don't get it," the Faunus then said. "Why not kill them? They're bad people."

Were they? Who knew what propaganda Ironwood had spread about the Onyx organization. Not only that, but Winter may have well been on the mark. After all, he had no moral high ground on which to stand. And Weiss…Weiss was not the spoiled, arrogant girl he had thought her to be. Oh, she was naïve alright. Childish, unscarred and psychologically intact. Undamaged except for a pitiful scar that others might even see as a symbol of beauty and perseverance. Compared to her, he might as well be something that lives under a rock.

But she wasn't what he had expected her to be. And worst of all, she had to feel sympathy for him. Of all the stupid things she could have done, she had to feel for him.

And now he had a problem.

"Why do _you_ care?" Frost countered.

"Because you will get in trouble if you don't do your thing. And you always do your thing!" The unreasonable girl bit back.

"So you do care about me?" Funny. He could have sworn that Amber wasn't supposed to be capable of higher emotion such as those anymore. Perhaps the years of secretly undermining her training program had helped after all?

Frost slowly placed the crosshairs of Winter's head instead. He could easily take her life and then vanish from Beacon. Experience made the man and he had so much experience…so much that he didn't think he could stand accumulating more.

"Whatever. Just kill one so we can leave this place."

He could not lie to himself. He despised the SDC even beyond professionalism. He loathed them, he wanted to see them burned and broken and in tatters. Gone from Remnant. But to shoot Weiss' sister in her head, right in front of her? To kill Winter right in front of Weiss? Had he really sunk that low? From killing armed children to killing unarmed civilian to killing unarmed civilians in front of their loved ones?

"It's a tough decision," he said again. "You don't rush a good shot."

Amber started scratching a pattern into the roof, easily tearing through the concrete frame with her nails. "If you're such a baby, I'll do it for you."

Like that was going to prevent Weiss from forming a massive trauma. "That will only complicate things. This is my job."

"But you're not fucking doing it!" Amber snapped at him. The second she raised her voice, Frost immediately took his eye away from the scope and reached for his other weapon.

She hadn't gone aggressive. She was still playing with the floor, placing deep marks in her fit of boredom.

"Would you relax? Find something to eat if you're bored." He then remembered the last time Amber had gone for a snack and then reconsidered. "Actually, stay here. Don't go anywhere."

Unleashing an unstable and cannibalistic Faunus inside a school filled with teens was still pretty low on his priority list.

"Whatever. Just hurry it up."

Alright, he had tried to ignore it before, but now it was becoming too obvious. "Amber, why are you so eager to go? We don't have other assignments."

"I know," she said with a big grin. She didn't take her eyes off of her sculpture, but Frost could tell that she was thinking about violence again. "But Operative Mantis is here!"

"No," he decidedly replied. "You won't."

"Really? And are you going to try to stop me?"

The eagerness in her voice sent shivers down Frost's spine and he picked his next few words with great precision. "Operative Mantis is under Beacon custody, just like Operative Greystone. Fighting her would be dangerous set."

"She's disavowed! Just let me-"

"No!" Frost told her. "You're underestimating Mantis. Fighting her on your own wouldn't end well, for neither of you. Besides; Onyx wants her alive."

"And they want the Schnees dead! Why won't you obey _that_ order!"

It was funny. She was right and he knew it. Having Winter and Weiss in his sights…at his mercy…he had dreamt about that moment for a long time. But now that he actually reached that point, it was as if that dream too had disappeared. He couldn't do it.

Well, that only proved he had new lows to reach. He shut off what little remained of his emotions and stuffed them away into little compartments. Didn't need them.

His finger moved near the trigger and he softly inhaled, holding his crosshairs just away from Winter´s head. He would do it nice and clean, letting them feel as little terror and horror as possible. He no longer wanted them to feel what he had felt. He just wanted to be done.

The first exhale. His muscles relaxed and his head cleared itself.

Second inhale. This was the time.

As he exhaled for the second time, he brought the crosshair into alignment and pulled-

"Wait, what _is_ our mission anyway?"

Frost cursed and immediately let go of the trigger lest he misfire. Stupid girl. "Don't disturb me as I take the shot," he bit at her. "It ruins my aim."

"Yeah yeah. Mission?"

The Onyx agent rolled with his eyes. "To decapitate the heritance of the SDC.

"So will that gun take their heads off?"

"That's not what it meant. It meant to stop…" Frost trailed off, realizing just what his mission parameters could mean. It meant to remove the possible heirs to the Company, thus forcing them into a position where they could no longer be a danger to others. "Getting those two to refuse their positions."

Amber cocked her head, curious. "What? What do you mean?"

Frost stood up from his sniping position. "It means the mission changed."

The Faunus groaned and let herself fall back on the roof. "Again? Why! What happened to simply killing people and moving on?"

Nothing had happened to that. It was just for the first time ever that he had found an alternative to it. Funny. Frost had never had the option of mercy before. "We should move. I don´t want you anywhere near Ironwood."

Amber growled upon hearing that name. The kind of low, menacing grumbling that he had come to associate with her whenever she was displeased. Or hungry. "If that fuck-face ever touches you again, I'm going to eat his intestines."

Ironwood probably lacked a part of his intestines. Still, seeing what the man looked like from the inside was a thought worth entertaining. "I appreciate the thought."

* * *

 **Beacon Academy**

 **Medical bay1**

 **1 hour before next Tournament match**

Will was feeling particularly murderous. His instinct was calling out to him with such an alluring call that he could feel it trembling in his limbs. His blood was burning, his skin itching. He recognized it and it worried him. After all, there wasn't anyone he truly _wanted_ to hurt.

With one possible exception. But the teacher could be ignored, unless she attempted to stop him.

She would die if she did.

The Operative groaned and pressed his head harder against his pillow, wishing that the throbbing headache would just go away. Of course, it wouldn't. And he knew that. No problem ever went away on its own.

At least the people around him had left him alone.

' _I never wanted this for you,'_ Ancilla quietly said. She had taken the 'news'…moderately well. She too had known that their unity was not meant to last. 'I _never wanted…any of this for you.'_

"We can't change it," he quietly replied. The duality of emotion…on one side, he wanted to lose his mind in the embrace of warfare. But on the other, he felt so tired. So useless. How would he would sense of those conflicting feelings?

' _But you could not continue the way you lived -the way your existence was used. Innocent people died!'_

Will sighed. All those years of fighting the wicked and now it turned out he wasn't a hair better. "If that was the way I lived…why can't I get the Arcadia-Luna incident out of my head? It sticks with me. I dream about it. I _see_ it, every time I step in the mud. Every time it rains."

' _War brings about the worst in all of us. It was during that battle that…that it became clear I could never lift you up from Onyx' teachings. Not on my own.'_

"So that's when you tinkered with my mind?"

He hadn't meant it as an accusation, but he could still feel her recoil at his words. A second later, he was back to hating himself.

' _I didn't think it would be like that! I…I just wanted you to stop and think. J-just to realize that you were in love with an atrocity!'_

It wasn't her fault. Anyone with a sliver of malice would have immediately pulled the plug, as Ancilla had been perfectly capable of. She remained with him for two years of killing and violence before something came along that finally exceeded even her limits. A frightened girl, lashing out at what she feared and hated most.

The thing he liked the most. "I know." It took a conflict with the stupid, but honest moniker of 'Death-War' to finally break her spirit and make her resort to doing what she should have done in the beginning. A part of him understood that what she had done was unethical, but so what? One unethical deed to prevent hundreds? "You did what you had to do."

' _Don't lie to me! I made a horrible mistake and never bothered to tell you! I messed with your head. How is that different from brainwashing you?'_

Well…perhaps it wasn't. She had tried to correct his mind using force. That was wrong. "It's not. But you tried to reverse what Onyx did. And that's a good thing."

' _How can you say that's good? I ruined your character, changed who you were. How are you not mad-'_

"There wasn't much of a personality before," he cut her off. Though her actions had resulted in a massive form of PTSD, much to his shame and indignity, it had still been crucial in forming him as a person. "I doubt Yang would have liked what I was before you stepped in. Nobody would have."

' _But now it's back.'_

"The feelings are," he corrected her. "I'm still me…I think."

The door to the medical bay opened again, but Will didn't bother looking. Right now, there wasn't anything he wanted to see apart from a large dose of medications. A temporary relieve was all he asked for.

' _But that is wrong! If fighting must be done, it must be done in the name of peace and innocence and not because you love it!'_

"Who decides what's good?" Will asked her, unfairly so. He had never met anyone who could answer him that question convincingly and Ancilla had never been able to honestly answer him. "Before I met you, everything I valued was good. Nothing was wrong except failure and defeat."

' _Then what am I here for?'_ The delicate girl then asked of him in return. ' _Why did they do this to me if nothing good can come out of it?'_

It was an honest and emotion-fueled question, one that he was – of course- utterly unable to convincingly answer. Again, the contrast between emotions struck him as confusing. Her feelings on this matter were so clear that his eyes started tearing up without him having any way to stop them. How much did this degenerative disease hurt her, if she was still capable of running his body without even trying to? If she really put her will to it, would anyone be able to stop her?

"Soon," he whispered to her. "The nightmare will end soon. This thing runs in my brain, not yours. If we can just-"

"Are you talking to yourself again?" A familiar voice then said. A female one, which sent shivers down his spine despite the temperature in the room being pleasant.

Will recognized her, but did not bother to roll around and face her. Fighting her now meant ruining a major portion of this room and straining Ancilla even more. Besides; what would be the point? Even if the act would bring him temporary joy, the aftermath would leave him feeling even more hollow.

So he just closed his eyes and sighed. "Why come now?"

Cinder Fall gave a small laugh and approached him, taking her sweet time doing so. "I must admit, I failed to see you would feel the need to…recuperate…after our disagreement."

Will forced himself upright, ignoring the odd way the world spun as he did. Cinder still looked as inviting and threatening as ever. Her pretending to be a Haven student did not hurt his eyes, either. "I didn't. I'm just living on borrowed time."

"Hmm…whatever do you mean?" The woman asked. At least, Will assumed she already was a woman. She was older than him, perhaps even of Ancilla's age.

What did it even matter anymore? If she wanted to trust Cinder, he was in no position to object. Right now, he was in no position at all. She could do whatever she wanted with him. "Apparently, I´m not so healthy anymore," he bitterly said. "And the good teachers don't want me anywhere near their precious civilians while my brain kills itself."

"It's sad, isn't it?" Cinder replied with a voice that could almost be mistaken for compassionate. "After all the things you have done for them, after all the blood you have shed, that they would cast you aside like a broken knife?"

A broken knife…that was an apt comparison. Pretty accurate right now, too. He could not accuse her of doing the same thing, because it was him who had made the decision to take her life. "There is only one thing I want…I don't care what they want to do with me afterwards."

"But they would stop you from doing even that. The General, the Headmaster, they would rather see you locked away."

Will remembered the witch who, in his face, had threatened him. She refused to believe him, she refused to understand. "They won't get the chance."

' _There are still good people here. Remember that when you decide on your enemies.'_

Cinder smiled. "The girl…what is her name?"

Will scowled and instinctively reached for his knife, but there was nothing. He was unarmed. "You tried to take her. Just like _they_ did."

"I did. And you tried to kill me. Just like they did. We both made mistakes and we both move on, do we not?"

' _I already told you, I want her help. Without it, I can't even start fixing the damage I did to you.'_

He knew, but…it felt wrong. Did he have the right to call this wrong? "Ancilla. From Mistral."

Cinder sat down on one of the chairs and placed one leg over the other. "You're a long way from home, my dear. You can see it again."

' _Tell her,'_ Ancilla quietly said, her voice quivering with barely-suppressed emotions, ' _that my home is long gone. Tell her to treat me like an equal, or get lost.'_

As Will relayed his partner's words, he saw a smile of satisfaction play over Cinder's features. Ancilla had been pretty sharp with her; why be satisfied? Did he see it wrong?

"So you felt it too?" Cinder then quietly replied. "How fortunate. Life is so much easier when you are powerful, Ancilla. When you have the power to make others fear and obey you. I can teach you…so many things. But all in due time. I think I might have the solution to your excruciating prison. All I ask in return is one favour."

"What favour?" Will asked. If Cinder possessed even the tiniest scrap of information on how to save Ancilla from this life, he had to take it. There was no other way.

"An…associate of mine was captured by your former masters. I would like him back."

Will glared at her. "I usually like a little more…intel…with my intel."

"I will give you this intel, whichever comes first. In the meantime, do try to refrain from dismembering more of my subordinates. They are hard to come by." Cinder then stood up from the chair and slowly walked back to the exit, moving her hips much the same way that Yang did. When she reached the door she looked back over her shoulder and said, "Come find me when you are free at last."

And with that last remark, Cinder left, leaving Ancilla with a lot to think about.

But not Will. If Cinder spoke the truth, and she truly had information about the whereabouts of Ancilla's body, he had to take that chance. Matt Adamant had better have some good medicine to keep his mind from deteriorating much father, because it was time to take inventory.

And thanks to Cinder, he was now so much stronger. Without Ancilla's limits to hold him back, he would like to see who was powerful enough to stop him, for he would not let anyone stop him. Not the General, not the Headmaster and not the Witch. He had sworn himself to Yang and not let anyone hurt her or team RWBY, but that dedication did not extend to those around them.

The world had been profiting from the atrocities long enough. Time for Remnant to give something back.


	14. Chapter 14

" _It is most frustrating how little regard Ozpin holds for our activities. I presume his distaste for our methods of warfare are based on the admittedly disturbing facts he has already managed to gleam from the Catalyst program. Perhaps his disregard of our good intentions is founded on the methods with which we recruit our soldiers. One aspect of our Foundation he might not hold in distaste, however. After all, who revealed to him the identities of the Maidens throughout the generations? Who made it possible for him to warn Lady Winter in the North, when Cyan Romero's activities had to be put to a halt? Who made it possible for his Huntsman to reach Lady Fall when she was in peril? Even now, our agents continue to safeguard the other Maidens against all who would harm them. Everybody always judges our ways, but how come nobody ever asks us the simple question: why? Why condition children to become the most efficient and ruthless killers possible?_

 _Is it truly to destroy, or is it to preserve? Are they assassins, or guardians?_

 _ **Professor K. Greene**_

* * *

 _ **[DATA REDACTED] Onyx Foundation Airship**_

 _ **Kingdom of Atlas**_

 _ **7 years ago**_

 _Operative Alan Blackwood sat in the back of the dimly-lit airship, waiting until his time was up. Young Alice sat at his left, carefully sharpening the blade of one of her katana against a discarded piece of metal. She was twelve years old now and had already claimed more the lives of more men and women than the average Onyx trooper had at seventeen. Perhaps that could be attributed to the fact that she was used primarily against her fellow humans, while the normal soldiers were used to stem the ever-increasing tide of Grimm. Perhaps it was because she was a natural talent in the art of taking lives. The reason was not relevant, as Alan doubted it was good for her mental health. She certainly seemed more deranged than the other Operative in their group, Will._

 _Will was a strange one. Trained to be a dealer of death from extreme ranges, he had developed an odd fascination with blades as well. And not just any type of blade, but the really long ones. Two-handed swords with blades longer than viable for most normal soldiers. However, Sergeant Dusk was always honest. And when the good Sergeant told you that he would train you in your choice of weapons, he would._

 _Alan had politely declined the offer of a massive sword. They did not fit his tastes, despite his own physique. He had never forgotten the day he had shattered his spear in slaying his first Goliath and neither had he forgotten the mysterious woman he had met in the aftermath. Two swords to compliment his spear was enough for him and should the situation arise, he could add a long-range weapon._

 _Such a situation would arise today. Master Sergeant Dusk rose to his feet near the exit of the airship and instantly got the attention of every single Operative aboard the vessel._

 _The man was like iron, unbreakable and unyielding. Every major soldier within the Onyx Foundation had a specific attribute that Alan thought impressive enough to add to his own vision of what it meant to be a soldier and Dusk embodied the most impressive aspect of mankind; the ability to rise to your feet no matter the damage inflected on your body._

" _Carriers," he said. It was rather odd, as this was not the proper way to address them. It was probably because 'Operative' was not a true rank within the Onyx rank structure, but still. "You've done your homework. If there is one man who knows how to combat Onyx, it is General Wisteria Ulysses."_

 _Homework…few people could get away with addressing them like this. However, the Master Sergeant had always reserved a special place in their minds as the toughest, meanest and most importantly, toughest trainer in existence. He had known them from the beginning of their lives and he knew how to work with them._

" _There are three major locations here in Atlas where the General is believed to stay," Dusk continued. "We do not know which of these sites is accurate. Blackwood, you're up first. We're dropping you at site Winter, a small front at the north of Atlas' borders."_

 _Site Winter, where the Atlas forces were testing their new hardware against the Grimm. Blackwood stood up from his seat and saluted. "Sir."_

 _Dusk stepped aside to let him pass. "Rules of engagement are simple. No civilian casualties this time. General Ulysses is your only target."_

" _Enemy combatants?" Alan asked._

" _Expendable," Dusk replied with a low growl._

 _The Operative -or Carrier, whatever the leaders wanted to call them- nodded in response and gripped his spear. He took care to prevent its golden head from scraping against the interior of the ship, as a soldier was only as sharp as his weapons. He held no desire to sharpen it in the middle of the fight._

" _It's going to be a close-quarters nightmare down there, Blackwood. Procure firearms if necessary and if Ulysses is not found there, contact us."_

 _The left hatch opened and Alan instantly dropped down from the airship into the cover of night. The dropship was not capable of dropping him in the thick of the battle, but that was to be expected; stealth technology was not yet what it was supposed to be. Someone could simply look out the window and see them approach._

 _The ground was rapidly approaching him now and Alan hastily acted. He moved his spear behind him and tucked his legs in just as he landed on the muddy hill, after which he instinctively sank through his knees and rolled over his shoulders._

 _A practiced move, executed to its perfection many times before._

 _All around him, the sounds of combat were pointing at a massive battle. Shadows of monstrous Grimm forms were appearing and disappearing in the foliage, hideous snarls echoed through the night and occasionally, the final scream of a soldier would signal the gruesome end of yet another human._

 _Alan was not religious. He had simply seen too much atrocities and violence for any deity to exist. However, he hoped that these brave men and women would find a place where their efforts had not gone to waste. Some final reward for their sacrifice?_

 _The flares of discharging weapons proved to be trustworthy guides. It was a testimony to the will of these soldiers that they were associated with the least amount of war crimes in Remnant. Alan wondered why this General had to die; if he was successful in countering Onyx operations, why not recruit him? The man had to be a genius. His protégé, Lieutenant General Ironwood, could continue leading the Atlas armed forces. He seemed a whole lot less competent as well._

 _Enough about that. He was here for a purpose. Morals and ethics were not relevant when following orders. He had learnt that long ago._

 _Two soldiers had just finished gunning down a pack of Beowolves and were reloading their rifles as they hastily retreated from a particularly-thick part of the forest. What were they doing here, so far away from their unit in the open field?_

 _Alan was about to strike when he discovered just why these soldiers were on their own. The limp body of another Atlesian soldier was suddenly flung their way, striking one of the soldiers just as he had reloaded his rifle. He and his dead comrade violently crashed to the ground in a macabre play and seconds later, something massive came thundering from the forest. It was huge, easily twice the size of a normal human, and covered in black fur with bone-like plating covering its body._

 _The hulking Grimm slammed its twin fists into the fallen body of the first Atlesian soldier, smashing through his weakened Aura and crushing his chest cavity._

 _Bones shattered like twigs, the soldier's armour doing nothing to protect him against the raging Grimm. It did not even pause over its kill, as it immediately lunged for the second soldier and gruesomely beat him to death. The Grimm ripped off his left arm, releasing a bright spray of red blood, after which it repeatedly smashed the poor soldier's head until his helmet was turned into scrap and his skull smashed in._

 _Alan shook his head. Beringel, he bitterly thought. He would have killed these soldiers himself, but seeing them slaughtered like cattle underneath the brute strength of this monstrosity was just…it wasn't right. It wasn't fair._

 _Hatred rose up in his throat like bile and he dropped his spear. Of all the events and aspects of Remnant, he loathed none as much as the Grimm. Even human cruelty had its limits!_

 _This world would enter an era when nobody had to cry and on his soul he swore that he would usher it in himself!_

 _The Beringel turned and spotted Alan. The sight of the lonely warrior was enough to trigger its murderous nature once again. It pounded its chest and then charged._

 _The distance between Alan and the Grimm would have cost any human warrior several moments to cross, but this thing was fast. Strikingly so. The ground underneath its feet shattered as it moved with all the ferocity and murderous intent of a demon, coming straight from the nightmare of a haunted child_

 _Alan stepped forwards and placed his hands and the Grimm's left arm, one below its elbow and one atop its scarily-human hand. He spun around at the same time, effortlessly turning the beast's force against it and violently slamming it against the ground. The force of impact was sufficient to knock the wind out of even a seasoned Huntsman, but the Beringel was too tough to let such a simple martial arts technique faze it._

 _However, Blackwood had lost his patience. Upon smashing the creature's skull open against the ground, he immediately drew his sword and plunged it directly into its face. Once, twice, three times he struck, until he had stabbed out its eyes and destroyed its brain so thoroughly that even the tough Beringel had to face its mortality._

 _However, his bloodthirst had not waned yet and he longed to fully obliterate the Grimm's skull with his bare hands. But he had to stay focused; he had a mission. And as much as he hated to admit it, he was not here to preserve lives. He had come to claim them._

 _Did that make him a hypocrite?_

 _It mattered little. As the soldier carried on, he came across many fights between Atlas military forces and creatures of Grimm. Beowolves worked together to pick off lone troops, Ursai smashed through ranks and a very busy Death Stalker was carving a path towards the top of the large hill, where the fighting appeared to be the fiercest._

 _So Alan went to work. The Atlesian troopers were disciplined and well-equipped, but they were nothing compared to Onyx-trained troopers. Adults just didn't make the same type of soldiers as children did._

 _The Operative side-stepped a salvo and parried a charging Beowolf at the same time. Then he thrust his spear at the Grimm's head, jerked it free and slammed it into the armour-clad enemy soldier with such force that he was flung off the hill._

 _It reminded Alan of the games he used to play with the other recruits, king of the hill. He had dished out a lot of injuries back then._

 _Nothing as severe as now. With trained precision he dodged a blade-strike from a red-armoured soldier and rammed the blade of his spear against their feet, knocking them off balance. He then surged forwards and slammed his elbow against their helmet, which cracked under the blow. He followed up with seven punches to the sternum and one head-butt to the damaged helmet, knocking the elite trooper out._

 _Blackwood actually had to hold back; now that he was almost fifteen, his attacks were officially strong enough to shear limbs off of the enemy with sheer force alone. With the Grimm, that was no problem. He could collide with their massive bodies and feel them get ripped apart underneath his strength all he wanted, as they were the darkness to his light. But humans did not deserve such gruesome fates. The first time he had accidentally dismembered an enemy combatant in single combat, he had nearly emptied his stomach on the ground._

 _A pack of Ursai chose to make its presence known, but it made no difference. He threw his spear and pinned one to a tree, quickly pulled out a sword and mercilessly cut down the other Ursai in a matter of seconds._

 _The Ursa that was still impaled at the tree wasn't much better off, as Alan ripped his spear free and then smashed its skull in with a single kick._

 _Yes…Brawler…the name was fitting indeed._

 _The soldier continued on his way, slaughtering every Grimm that he came across. One final, enormous Ursa stood atop the hill, mauling the corpse of a fallen Atlesian soldier. Alan impaled the beast from behind and then grabbed his sword. With its pommel he proceeded to smash the creature´s skull in, not bothering of giving it an easy death via decapitation._

 _After that, the rest was easy. He conquered the hill in a matter of minutes, after which he finally managed to locate his quarry._

 _General Ulysses. Pride of the Atlesian military. Hero of a dozen battles._

 _Fifteen soldiers, thirty-three Grimm forms and the General, all the way at the front, surrounded by his elite guard. They seemed to be trapped in a stalemate with the beasts. Surviving such a lopsided battle would be a difficult feat to accomplish._

 _Alan raised his spear and softly exhaled. The flames seemed to dull, the screams were drowned out. All that was left was the utter calmness and serenity before the kill. In that instance, he saw it all. The path to victory laid bare._

 _One strike was all he needed. This would end here._

 _He kicked off with enough force to shatter the ground underneath him and launched himself down the hill. The sounds of combat were fully drowned out by the sound of the wind surging through past his ears and the various Beowolves that thundered down the hill along with him, but he easily outsped them. With his spear held behind his back to reduce the drag, Alan jumped in the air to avoid falling over the corpses that lay strewn across the ground. Ulysses was too distracted by the army of Grimm to feel his impending death and as the meters melted away underneath Alan's feet, one feeling managed to wrestle itself free from his steeled mind, giving him a taste of victory and accomplishment-_

 _A flash of bright steel, followed by the sharp sting of a savage blow intercepted his assault and the Operative crashed to the ground in a heap, coming to a rolling stop on the muddy ground._

 _Alan shook away the dizziness that soon followed what had been a powerful strike and ignored the lances of pain that shot through his chest when he inhaled._

 _The General was directly facing him, while his elite guard moved to attack Blackwood. However, while the Operative hastily jumped to his feet and readied his spear, the General raised his hand to stop his men._

 _A sign of honor. Alan could appreciate it, but it had no place on the battlefield. He jumped at the Atlesian General and lashed out with his spear, but the man easily deflected his strike and followed up with a kick that the Operative only narrowly managed to dodge._

 _Such speed, such coordination. Who was this man who had managed to survive what should have been a lethal blow not once, but twice?_

 _Blackwood paused and took a good look at the man whose life he had been sent to take. His long, black hair was tied behind his back and his facial hair was neatly kept. However, despite his civilized look, there was no mistaking the soul of a warrior hiding behind his eyes. General Ulysses was a man of war just like Alan was._

" _You…are not with the Atlesian armed forces," the General spoke. He didn't sound upset, or aggressive. Merely like he was making a statement._

 _His calmness was commendable. "No," Alan replied. "I am not."_

 _The soldiers around him shifted in unease when he spoke, but their stance did not last long. A fresh wave of creatures of Grimm washed over their position and they were forced to defend themselves once more._

 _In the chaos, both Ulysses and Blackwood moved. As a Nevermore flew over their position and skewered the land below with its mighty feathers, the two soldiers engaged in a furious close quarters match._

 _The young Operative soon learned that, for all his prowess, there were some fighters that he could not possibly compete against. The occasional Grimm and Atlesian soldier interfering with their fight greatly hindered him, for they forced him out of his focus, but the General did not seem to have that problem. As Blackwood dispatched of an Ursa Major that strayed too close, Ulysses nailed him with such a forceful blow that even Alan, who was well aware of his nickname as the 'Brawler', was left winded._

" _You came into this battlefield to claim my life," Ulysses said. His dark eyes met Alan's and the man frowned. "Why? Who are you?"_

 _Alan struggled to stand, but his body screamed in protest and he ceased all movements. His pride might have been damaged, but not yet ruined. "Operative Blackwood," he replied. "General Ulysses, you cannot be allowed to live."_

" _An Operative…how quint. Yours was not the first attempt on my life, young one, and it shall not be the last. I doubt you will survive to heed my advice, but in coming here, you have proven you deserve it. The life of an attack dog is an abysmal one."_

" _I am no attack dog," Blackwood growled. "I am a soldier! I-"_

" _Then why do you fight?" Ulysses suddenly asked._

 _His question took Alan by surprise, but the answer was simple. "For a world where nobody has to cry or suffer," he replied. "A safe world."_

 _The General nodded, as if appreciating that view. "So why my life? All this death and misery, yet you came for my head. How does that fit into your view, if not by the orders for an attack dog?"_

" _You-" why indeed? What crimes was the Atlesian General guilty of? Supreme excellence on the battlefield? Competence in opposing the Onyx Foundation?_

 _No, the answer was clear. Good soldiers followed orders! "Your death was issued in an order. Soldiers do not disobey orders."_

" _If the order is morally acceptable, the soldier will be blamed for disobeying it," Ulysses said, while the other Atlesian soldiers took aim at Alan's head. "However, when the orders are detestable, the officer must be blamed for issuing them. You are, as we call your kind, a child soldier. How many innocent lives have you taken? How many have you killed for your orders?"_

 _That was…he…_

… _he had never counted. He had not counted the people whose lives he had taken. Men, women…in the rarest and darkest hours, even children -all he had deemed necessary sacrifices. For the greater good of mankind. "That is irrelevant," Alan countered. "For our future, lives must be taken."_

" _And when everybody has been sacrificed, soldier, who is left to safe?"_

 _That question…Alan had never had one such as that posed to him. How could he possibly know that?_

" _A reason is not the same as an ideology," Ulysses continued. "I know the founder who calls himself the Themeluesi. I know of his ways, and they are hopelessly flawed. What will happen when your Foundation runs out of lives to sacrifice? When the greater good has become obsolete because of the sheer amount of suffering and death caused for it?"_

" _I...I don't know…" Alan was forced to admit. He lowered his head. How could such a simple question could so utterly destroy his reason to fight?_

 _Ulysses crossed his wrists behind his back and nodded. Up ahead, the Nevermore crashed to the ground, riddled with bullets and pocketed with explosion marks. His elite guard immediately rushed to take up their positions next to him, but this time they did not bother to take aim at the fallen child soldier._

" _I do hope you find your answer. Out here on my battlefield, your survival will hinge on it."_

 _And it was with that remark that the General took his leave. His transport vehicle arrived to exfiltrate him and his units, giving up this sector to the Grimm._

 _Alan let him. He had more pressing issues to address. Why did he fight, if not for the betterment of the world? A world where his younger sister could play in the forest without having to fear the monsters that thrived there. A world where the lives of all the people he had taken would mean something, for their sacrifice to be worth something._

 _He did all the things he did because they were good…or was it because Onyx said they were good? All the lives he had taken…all the loves he had stolen…was he any closer to his goal of peace than he had been years ago? How much more fighting until mankind was finally ready?_

 _All of this was playing havoc with Alan's mind. He was very aware that his mentality wasn't exactly common among the normal citizens in Remnant, but…to actually feel admonished by the man whose life he was supposed to take? It was somehow worse than failing the mission._

 _His communication software pinged and he sighed with frustration. These medications that the Onyx Foundation was making him take to suppress the awakening of his Semblance didn't resonate with frustration very well._

" _Blackwood here," he said as one of the rampaging Ursai rushed towards him. He extended his arm and caught the creature by its throat, turning its rabid growls into yelps of pain._

"Operative. Did you catch your man?"

" _Negative," Blackwood growled, increasing his grip in the Grimm's throat. The Ursa jerked with its limbs and its pained whines increased in intensity, before the thick bones supporting its neck cracked and its throat collapsed. "He got away just as I got here."_

 _The limp body of the Ursa fell to the ground, where it rapidly started evaporating. "_ Right. General Eventide is not going to like that. For now, we are relocating you to the woodlands in Mistral."

" _On it."_

* * *

 **Kingdom of Vale**

 **Beacon Academy**

 **Present day**

"Just the list of questions, really," Matt Adamant told his hypothesized pair of patients on the bed. "One for you to fill and one for…you…to fill."

The young soldier warily took the piece of paper and looked at it. "How will this help?" He asked with a small voice.

"Well…once miss Van Wit gets a good look on it, she will be able to judge whether we are speaking of a nasty case of multiple personality syndrome or-"

"Wait. Who is Van Wit?"

The Adamant smiled and readjusted his bowtie. Smearing it in with soap to test if a piece of clothing could replicate the feminine wiles of a woman had been less than successful. "The psychiatrist. Don't worry!" He quickly added when he saw the look of distress on the face of his young patients, "She's not like my colleagues. Weeell…she's nice. I think. I believe. Yes, I believe I think that. And she's going to verify the truth."

The Operative nodded and then glanced at the paper again. Matt reached for a pencil and then quietly handed it to his patients, but he didn't get very far. Greystone's hand snapped out and grabbed his wrist in an iron grip. Despite being very bony and somewhat malnourished, his hold was easily as strong as that of Sergeant-Professor Johnson.

Matt looked the child soldier in his eyes and saw the suspicion and looming threat of violence that was so common for his kind. The thought that everybody and everyone around him was going to hurt him, the conditioned response of violence that he had to be fighting right now. It was so… _intriguing._ There were dozens of social experiments that he could do with this one! Unfortunately, he had to deal with the impossible conundrum of two minds stuck in one body for now.

Also, he had to figure out how to hand someone a pen without looking like a crazed murderer. Perhaps it was the smile?

"Pen," he said while toning back the amount of smile on his face. "Writing device. Makes writing with blood obsolete."

Greystone warily took the pencil and started working on the list of questions.

Now, whatever set of skills that Onyx taught their soldiers to make them such unfettered killing machines, it did not involve the finer arts of literacy. It took the soldier at least a minute to fully read a question that could be read by a child and when he wrote down his answer, he wrote like the paper was going to blow up in his face with a simple twitch of his left pinkie. By the time he had strung together an intelligent amount of words constituting to a sentence, another two minutes had passed.

And the Adamant was _bored._ People were getting pumped for small Hunters-to-be to kick each other's asses and here he was, disproving the claim of the one colleague who loathed him the most. He wanted to see Lisa's team do their thing and blow up the Amity Colosseum in the process! He wanted the world to see how much Cho could fit in one mauve, how much milligrams of explosives it took to blow up someone's ego! And why not have his favorite pupil hack the entire Atlesian fleet while she was busy sneezing?

"It's alright," he told Greystone from his seat, where he was lying upside down in the vain hope that gravity would make the time flow by faster. "You can totally take your time."

"Hobbies…" the Operative muttered.

"Excuse me?"

"Hobbies. I don't…I mean…I don't think…"

No hobbies? How silly. Everything that brought you joy was a hobby! For Greystone it would probably involve…murder and violence and explosions and death. But to suggest the child soldier in rehab to write down 'war' as a hobby would probably upset the psychiatrist somewhat, so he had to be subtle on that topic as well.

Ah, subtlety! If there was _one_ thing in this universe that he hated… "Just write down things you like."

The patients were surprisingly quick with that. It only took him five seconds to write down the single word that was meant to convey what he liked the most and then he was done.

"Right. A question, if I may?" Matt asked as he took the paper.

"Sure."

"This partner of yours…what was her name again?"

Greystone immediately broke what little eye-contact they had. "Ancilla."

"Can Ancilla hear me now?"

"Yes."

Ah…" Can she write?"

"She possesses the ability to write."

Now _this_ Matt could use. The finer intrigues of having two souls in one body were difficult to explore, but if this meant that 'Ancilla' could somehow control Greystone's body…and actually show a different manner of acting than normal…that would be a huge point in their favour!

And one step closer to beating Goodwitch!

"Can she fill in her list on her own?"

Greystone hid what little stunted emotions he had to feel with that inquiry. "She might need some time."

"Good. Have her fill her own form. If things go according to plan, she will have a beautiful handwriting."

"She will?"

"Oh yes. Now Greystone, there is a peculiar thing about women. Everything they do instantly becomes beautiful. Whether it is eating or writing or talking, they have a way to charm you with it."

"Are you saying that by distinguishing between being beautiful and not beautiful, we can prove something?"

The Adamant smirked. "More or less. For now, a person only has one way of writing. Thinking you have two different souls in your body is one thing. Showing off that these souls have different ways of writing is a whole different thing. So, get writing."

His little patient fell quiet as he started working on the second paper. However, as he did, a change fell across him. Matt wasn't really sure how what it was, but it was interesting to see. The way Greystone moved became…different. Less direct, less sharp, more superfluous movements. Either he was impressively faking a different way of moving, or he had just asked his partner to take over control,

Matthew had to prevent himself from giggling like a gleeful child. If this was real...he was dealing with a concept that could revolutionize the world! The ancient warriors who had Bonded had never reached a level of this dedication. It was amazing and surreal and very, _very_ disturbing. Giving a young women control over the body of a child soldier in the middle of his career? Wasn't there a better way to drive one to madness?

"So, about your Semblance…" Professor Adamant asked his patients. Plural or singular, he still wasn't sure.

"Yes?"

"How does it work? Surely I do not have to tell you that a Semblance based purely on regeneration is completely flawed and horribly convoluted. How do you prevent cancerous growths? How do you prevent bad healing? How are you not stuffing yourself with high-protein based meals to maintain your metabolism?"

"I-"

"And on that topic, doesn't your hair and nail grow at accelerated rates? Wait, of course not, dead tissues. Still, how does your Semblance prevent intoxication from built-up wastes of cell respiration? Do you suppose you have a higher rate of mutations, or does your RNA system prevent those fallacies? If so, do you suppose yourself a dead-end in genetic diversity? On that notion, have you noticed a sincere immunity to alcohol and medication? Increased sexual-"

"Professor," Greystone interrupted him. "I don't know what those words mean."

"Oh. Well, they mean-"

"And my Semblance isn't natural. I didn't naturally develop it."

Oh… _oh._ Well, that was difficult. It was Matthew's standing theory -one that he had recently written a dissertation about- that trained individuals developed their Semblances in time of great distress and need to bolster the body's capability for survival. Your Aura would give you what you _needed_.

"Like Ruby," he then said as he relayed that theory to his one/two-man/women audience. "At one point in her life, I suppose, she found herself in a position of slowness. Simply put, she was too slow to avoid damage or survive a lethal wound. So, in other to preserve her life, her Aura manifested her Semblance. And she became fast. I would suppose that, in your life, you had the need for immediate medical attention, but…"

"Yeah," the Operative quietly said. "It's not a natural Semblance. Onyx somehow managed to…give it to me, when I was younger. At the same time they Bonded Ancilla to me."

"Again, how does it work?"

Greystone handed him the paper that he had had Ancilla write and said, "It's a system. I can't really control it on my, Ancilla does that. She reg…re…r-regulates it while I…"

"Focus on staying alive?"

"…do my thing. Yes."

The Adamant looked at the second list of questions. Written in a very feminine handwriting. Excellent. "I see. Ancilla has no last name?"

"We're not sure if is even _is_ her name."

"Hmm…age…twenty?"

"She was fifteen when I was thirteen."

"Which would make her nineteen. Of course, your sense of time has been degraded lately…no official papers to speak of, either. Also, she wanted to be a Shrine Maiden? That's nice. And -huh…that's odd."

"What is, doctor?"

Under ´hobbies´, both of them had written down ´Yang´. The thing they liked the most indeed. While Greystone's most definitely seemed to have fallen for the blonde bombshell that was Yang Xiao Long, it was still odd to see that Ancilla shared his feelings. Although, that was probably what their Bond was supposed to be. Make two into one.

"Nothing. So tell me! How will finding your partner's body help fix your brain?"

Much to his credit, the young Operative didn't seem at all concerned by his condition. He was either very stupid or very brave. Both, most likely. Stupidly brave and bravely stupid. "It won't. But it will accomplish two goals. She will be safe. And maybe, she can stop this dementia-thing."

Indeed, it was important to remove the cause of this stress on his brain. Once Ancilla was safe and sound in her own body -man, that was a weird thought- she might be able to use his Semblance to at least stall the decrease in his ability to think and remember. "And knowing you, you are prepared to do whatever is necessary to do this. Which includes attempting to break out of Beacon, no doubt killing or incapacitating me, my colleagues and perhaps a good deal of students and soldiers."

"Doctor? sneaking out the backdoor is a better option."

"Yes. But to trust you with the key to said backdoor, we need to prove that you aren't lying or a lia-bility. See what I did there?"

Greystone merely stared at him.

"…perhaps not. So, yes, right. Proving that you do indeed have the soul of a young woman in your head might be a good start. For that, you need Eve Van Wit to diagnose you with…err…"

"Catalyst syndrome?" the Operative suggested.

Hah…humour. Even child soldiers possessed it. "Something the like. For now, I would suggest resting and avoiding taxing activities."

"Doctor Adamant? Does breaking into secret Onyx bases count as taxing?"

Matt was taken aback by the sheer honesty of that question. And the stupidity, but that was to be expected. This version of the progressive degenerative dementia meant a gradual decrease in a person's daily functioning. Logic and memories would soon be flying out the window for him. Of course, that might still be put on a hold. "It does. So no fighting!"

"The only way to rescue Ancilla from Onyx is by retrieving her p…her p-phy…" the Operative growled in frustration and slammed his fist into the frame of his bed. "Damnit! P-physical form!"

"Easy," the Adamant quietly told his patient. "It's part of the norm. Communication and language will-"

"Doctor! I need to fight to free her. There is no alternative!"

"Well, disregarding the fact that we have no clue as where to find her and that you can't fight an entire army on your own without help, I still wouldn't advise venturing out on your own. However…if you _do_ manage to locate her with your…ahem, network…well, I am sure we can make a case. Until then…"

"Medication. Drugs, whatever. We need to buy time to keep this thing from getting worse!"

Hmm…there was a difference to be found between being forced to admit that a city could no longer be protected properly and that there were no real treatments available for a lethal series of diseases. "Treatment of dementia depends on its cause. In the case of most progressive dementias, including Alzheimer's disease, there is no cure and no treatment that slows or stops its progression." Perfectly quoting his biology book in this topic did not make him feel like less of an incompetent baboon. "But there are drug treatments that may temporarily improve symptoms. If you need to fight…and Ancilla can regulate your Semblance to handle the side-effect of these medications…I am sure we can cook up something."

* * *

 **Kingdom of Vale**

 **Amity Colosseum**

 **20 minutes before student team LACG's fight.**

Everybody on team JNPR had been looking forward to team LACG´s oncoming fight. Even Ren, who normally could not be bothered to show his enthusiasm about something, at one point even declared that he had high expectations. Despite Lisa´s team not consisting of the best fighters Beacon had to offer, the professionalism of team LACG truly seemed to exceed that of even third-year teams. Some people even seemed to think that Headmaster Ozpin gave them special missions to go on, mostly of them aimed at counter-terrorism.

So when the time to meet up at the Amity Colosseum finally came, it came to nobody´s surprise that Jaune was practically jumping with enthusiasm. "Come on guys," he would yell, looking more eager than even Nora, "Hurry up! I want the best seats!"

But Pyrrha did not mind. In fact, she found it endearing. To consider your peers as people to look up to was a positive aspect of one's personality, often overlooked in importance by others.

In addition, she was just glad this time, the spotlight wasn't aimed solely at her. Team LACG had gathered a strange form of infamy among the other Kingdoms. While not nearly as notorious as the Onyx soldiers who had appeared in the news with their real names and faces, strange people still seemed to recognize them on campus ground.

As soon as their airship had landed on the Amity Colosseum. Jaune led their team straight through the groups of people standing around the edge of the landing zone. He was heading straight towards the entrance to the actual colosseum with an eagerness that was contagious that Pyrrha almost missed the dispute that was taking place in one of the slammer, easier-to-miss alleys.

The redheaded warrior glanced over her shoulder to take another good look and realized that there were two people standing there, arguing.

Though she lagged behind but for a few moments, Jaune instantly caught on and switched from making bets with Nora to casting her a concerned look, before he asked, "Pyrrha, everything alright?"

Pyrrha frowned when she saw what was happening and who was involved. "Of course," she replied. There was no need to worry him with this. "You go ahead, I'll catch up."

Jaune looked like he wanted to protest, but Ren placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a nudge.

"You should save her a spot," Ren said, perhaps realizing what Pyrrha intended.

"Right," Jaune unhappily replied. "Of course. See you soon, I guess?"

Pyrrha smiled warmly. "Indeed. This will not take long."

Then, as Nora all but dragged Jaune along with her, Pyrrha turned to face the group of people she had seen standing in one of the door-openings. Arguing in one of the door-openings. As she moved to approach then, she struggled to remember the names of the two she had recognized from team BRNZ, whom she had fought during JNPR's own match.

One of them she recognized as BRNZ's teamleader, but the other one…his name eluded her. Brown hair, green eyes, dark skin…he was the one who fought with the circular blades. The girl and the purple-haired young man was not with them.

Were they watching from a distance? Covering the area with her sniper rifle? If so, were they willing to open fire in an open area like this, with potential innocent victims?

"I don't think you get it," the dark-haired teamleader said with a tone of voice that left little room for interpretation. And Pyrrha did not like what she heard. "We're authorized to kick your ass out of here. Off the edge of the Colosseum, if necessary."

That particular threat left Nikos bristling and she increased her pace, but she quickly slowed down once she heard the reply of the person they were threatening.

"Don't push me again. Be smart. Walk away."

Pyrrha did not believe that actively threatening one's peer was in any way an acceptable thing to do, but actively threatening anyone related to Onyx was just a plain bad idea. And this particular Onyx soldier was a friend of hers, one who she did not like to see threatened by others.

"What is going on here?" She inquired, crossing her arms as she did.

The leader _-Brawnz was his name_!- gave her a pissed-off look and said, "That's none of your business."

The other one seemed to recognize her though. His eyes lit up as he saw her, as if she was going to help _him_ instead of their current target. "You're Pyrrha Nikos. Good to see you!"

Though his voice sounded honestly relieved, Pyrrha did not think it morally acceptable to, in Jaune's immortal words, 'mess with' her friend. And pushing Operative Will around was just a stupid idea on its own.

"Nikos?" Brawnz replied with surprise. His reaction too implied that her interference would be a good thing for them. "Nice. We just got a little problem here."

Pyrrha looked at Will and was somewhat disturbed to see how… _eager_ he looked. There was no reluctance or anger, he just looked...well, the closest thing would be murderous. "I see," she slowly said.

"General Ironwood said he didn't need any of you freaks onboard this ship," the teamleader then scoffed. "So why don't _you_ be the smart one, rat, and beat it?"

"Why don't you _make_ me?" Will replied with a voice that Pyrrha didn't think him capable of speaking. He truly sounded eager for this conflict!

Before anyone could catch up on the invite -and subsequently bring great harm upon themselves- Pyrrha stepped in. "He is with us," she said, then coldly glared at the two students. "And personally, I think you two owe him more respect than this."

The two looked at each other, not too impressed.

But Pyrrha was not finished. "This 'freak' as you call him has personally done more to make this peace happen than your entire school combined, and I call him my friend. If you have a problem with him, you can take it out with me." She paused to let her words sink in. "I would be happy to accept the challenge."

Perhaps it was the subtle threat on her part that they picked up on. Perhaps it was their memories, telling them that another fight with just the two of them instead of their whole team would be weighed against their favour. It could even be that they started to understand that if they pushed Greystone too far, he would kill them both without hesitation. However their line of thoughts might have gone, they decided to back off.

"If he's with you, that's fine," the dark-skinned boy told her.

His leader however, had one last thing to say. "You better keep him out of Ironwood's sights, Nikos. He ordered everyone to keep a close eye on these…people…and he won't take kindly to the likes of you, smuggling them inside!"

"Duly noted," Pyrrha stated. She placed her hands on her hips and added, "I think you two should find your teammates. They are sure to wonder where you went."

Casting each other another look, the two students walked off, but not before making sure that neither Pyrrha nor Will would attack them from behind. Their paranoia was ill-placed; such underhanded tricks were below her.

And neither did she need them.

"I had them," Will softly said, never taking his eyes off of the forms of the leaving students. "Why did you do that?"

"Because it is time people show you that not everybody sees you as the enemy," Pyrrha replied. "There are plenty of us who are thankful for the things you did for us."

"Thankful?"

Pyrrha nodded, before moving to the place where her partner was sure to be waiting for her. "We can stand here as different individuals without strife or conflict, but that freedom came at a great cost. Even now, as our Kingdoms are tempted to go to war once more, the peace and sanity we have come to enjoy must not be taken for granted. And I know that you and the others like you have sacrificed much to ensure it. Being thankful would be a small, yet logic begin to appreciate that."

Pyrrha knew that she could be long-winded sometimes, so the confusion that Will so honestly displayed did not take her by surprise. "You are thankful for what we did?"

"The methods Onyx employed are vulgar and their atrocities cannot be redeemed. However, when one fights for the sake of the world, how can we not be thankful? I know you are a good person, Will. It's just a matter of time before the rest can see it."

"A good person…" he quietly repeated. "Right…"

He did not sound convinced. His reservations could be understood. However, if he was truly wicked, he would not have gathered the friends he had now. "I am certain that neither Ruby nor Yang would be willing to be with you, had you not been a good person. Even Blake and Weiss can get along with you, and that is something to remember." Pyrrha then realized something herself, and asked, "Speaking of team RWBY, may I ask what you are doing here on your own?" It was no secret that Will mostly spent his time at Yang's side. Even Jaune, oblivious to signs of love and affection as he could be, recognized that there was something blossoming there.

"I had to spend some time on the medical bay," Will replied.

"The medical bay? Were you ill?"

Will brushed past his hip with his right hand. "Just needed some medicine. Keeps things from falling apart too much."

Pyrrha nodded, though she did not understand. "I see. Will you accompany us in the arena? I am sure that team LACG's fight will be to your tastes."

Perhaps that was insensitive. The concept that men liked explosions might fit with Jaune, but it could not fit with someone who had been buffeted by raining shells for so long that he had become shaken by them.

"Later," Will replied. "I have an inventory to take care of."

An inventory? As in, weaponry? What was he planning? "Are you sure?" Pyrrha asked. "Would an honorable fight without lethal consequences not be a welcome change?"

"Not yet. I need a little bit more time…but that will come. I won't miss the fights to come."

Something told her that he wasn't talking about the Tournament fights. However, it was not her place to doubt his intentions and activities, no matter how much she wanted it to be. "Alright…I wish you good luck."

He didn't thank her. Instead, he merely nodded at her and quickly disappeared, leaving Pyrrha with more questions than answers.

But she was not Yang and neither was she Ozpin. She did not understand him and neither did she have the right to ask things of him. All she could do was pray that nothing would go awry. Unity was more important now than ever before.

Upon her arrival at the inside of the stadium, Jaune was quick to ask her what had distracted her. She did not wish him to worry about anything, so she merely told him that she saw someone she knew. He was polite enough not to push for further answers, which was perhaps a good thing. Jaune was a very good person and like any truly good person, he despised anything that could be associated with Onyx.

"You're just in time!" Nora told her with much glee. Jaune was not the only one who loved explosives. "It's about to start!"

Indeed. After a mere thirty seconds, the two commentators spoke up and instantly silenced the unruly crowd.

"What's up guys, this is Jack and Geoff from the Vytal Tournament and today we're here to witness another amazing fight!"

"Today we´re going to watch Vale´s team LACG duke it out with Vacuo´s team VOWL. You know they gotta be determined if they´re from Vacuo, and these guys are no different."

Team VOWl…Vivid, Oxford, Willow and Limerick. It surprised Pyrrha that she had not heard of these names before. What was more, she had not even _seen_ these students before.

"And on the other side we have Beacon's team LACG, continuing the trend of random team of misfits. We have an Adamant, a former police officer, a demolitions expert and a remarkably- sneaky scout."

"Ah," Geoff exclaimed. "Those wacky Adamants…did you know that they're related to the Ramsey family?"

"I did. The mother's side?"

"Yup. You would not believe the stories the Adamants can cause."

"I hope I would. Look, the territories have been selected. Here's hoping we get to see some new ones."

It was true. The large, spherical arenas behind the two teams disappeared beneath the ground and soon, large stretches of elementally-charged battlefields appeared on the surface, ready to force the fighters to adapt or lose.

But it didn't stay that way. Alessa, Grace's partner, suddenly whipped out her Scroll and started typing away. Lisa petted her on her shoulder and gestured at the enemy team, all four of whom started looking around as their respective battlefields suddenly sunk away again.

"What?" Jaune said, gripping the chair in front of him. "What's going on?"

"This can't be according to plan," Ren replied

* * *

Everything was going according to plan! Alessa had full access to the Amity Colosseum's territory-creation systems and now, it was time to do that which any Adamant would have done!

Manipulate the hell out of the environment!

"I don't like these odds," Lisa Adamant told her blindfolded teammate as a lava-covered territory popped up behind them, while their opponents got a desert one. "Let's change them."

Alessa nodded and pressed a few buttons, forcing the two elemental battlegrounds to rapidly descent back into the ground. The enemy team looked really confused as to what was going on and they didn't even attack in the confusion! Lisa would have had her team attack already, had the ground not been a bit too unstable.

"Uh-oh! It looks like team LACG is on to something!" Geoff called out. Well, uncle Geoff. Well, step-step uncle Ramsey. It was a long line of family people.

The desert and lava territories made place for the same ice and fire territory that team RWBY had used. Lisa liked the ice one, but the fire one was too hot for her.

Alessa gave her a look, which was really hard to spot given her blindfold. It wasn't that she couldn't see; Alessa was perfectly capable of perceiving the world around her with the unique workings of her Semblance, which had been integrated with her Aura way back when she had been a test-subject for that Onyx research facility in the North.

In the land of the seeing, the blindfolded girl was queen of the castle.

"I know you hate heat," Lisa replied. In the long, long months of being a leader, she had taught herself how to read blindfold. Grace had helped a lot; she was a natural talent. "Lose the fire. What did JNPR use?"

A few taps later and the enemy territory disappeared underneath the ground again, nearly sending team VOWL stumbling to the ground as the entire arena shook with the force. This was no gentle hack!

The fire-grounds disappeared and made place for that thunder mountain which Nora had used to smite the mortal infidels from.

But lightning was too much of Cho's thing…and that ass from team BRNZ had had the balls to use a cattle-prod as well! The plagiarism had hit home too hard. She didn't want to be reminded of it again. "No, no, I'm still pissy about that stolen design. The other side!"

The thunder mountain made way for a nice, familiar forest with lots of trees and ambushing possibilities. Alessa and Grace could go nuts.

"Yep," Lisa said. "This'll do."

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" The teamleader of VOWL yelled. He was a handsome guy, with middle-length purple hair and some purple jumpsuit. "Hacking the arena is cheating!"

Lisa countered, borrowing one of Matt's favorite responses. "Just making use of local resources!"

"Yeah," Grace chimed in with a big smile. "It's not cheating!"

A few seconds passed, during which Geoff managed to sneak in another comment. "Oh shit, it looks like team LACG is making use of local resources!"

Cho sighed. "Can we lose more of the element of surprise?"

"Yup!" Lisa said with a grin, before raising Echo, also known as the Type-25 and also known as "loviur!". It was, for all intents and purposes, a big gun with a knife glued to its back. A big, undercarried high-explosive-rounds-firing gun with a knife massive enough to bisect a Beowolf by slipping on the ground.

As soon as she raised her baby, the enemy team jumped to action, and so did Alessa. While the enemy team made a line straight towards the LACG´s, Alessa darted away in the opposite direction and immediately went for the forest.

"Get her!" The enemy teamleader, Vivid, yelled.

"Got it!" His partner, Willow, replied. Willow looked like Alessa. A lot actually. She had long, white hair that she kept in a tail that reached to her waist, but without the dark highlights.

Then again, maybe not so much like Alessa.

Grace immediately saw what they were doing and triggered the melee version of her weapon, the Spoon of Doom. It wasn't actually called that and it wasn't actually a spoon, but Dragon's Foliage alternate form looked so much like it belonged on a really big dining table that half the first-years had dubbed it so. It forewent its ability to breathe fire in order to dispense divine judgement in the form of sticky grenades.

Of course the lovely demolitions expert would rush after her teammate instead of staying to rig the battlefield with all kinds of explosive traps. Sure.

One of these days, she was going to find out just why Grace was so quick to rush after Alessa. It had gotten them in trouble in the North as well!

Two of their team broke off to chase after the two of team LACG, which meant that Lisa could take her Cho and kick ass in front of the entire Kingdom. Finally! The moment was here to _not_ be a total failure in the Adamant Clan!

The other half of VOWL was the team leader Vivid and the…whatever it was, called Limerick.

And seriously, was it a flat-chested girl or a andro-

The two of them got very close and Lisa had to cut her own thoughts off like she was in class. She pulled the trigger and sent several rounds downrange, but the two were damn slippery fast and dodged her shots.

The boy-girl person didn't look so elegant. Just like Alessa, her weapons of choice were a set of wrist-mounted gauntlets. Unlike Alessa, her massive weapons were a part of a larger endoskeleton that seemed to go around her shoulders and even partially across her spine.

Those claws were wider than Lisa was.

Lisa was about to jump aside to dodge her -she decided to just call Limerick a girl- when she slipped on the ice and fell on her behind. She managed to break her fall without breaking anything and Limerick cleaved through the vacant air she had just left.

Cho was on her like a basket hound. The ex-cop nailed her in her stomach with his stun baton -totally not a cattle prod- and knocked her out of the air.

Lisa made sure to thoroughly touch the ice and then crawled back to her feet. Her partner was trying to violently arrest Limerick, which meant that she had that handsome leader all to herself. Vivid was not easy to miss; his hair was a bright form of purple and very messy. Also longer on side than the other. He was wielding a lance that was easily longer than himself. There was no way he could easily wield that-

Vivid lashed out with his lance and struck Lisa in her ribs, knocking her back on her ass and sending her skidding multiple meters across the ice.

Alright, so he _could_ easily wield that thing. Good to have that cleared up!

Lisa cursed under her breath and crawled upright for the second time. While Vivid was menacingly approaching her with his lance at the ready, Cho was trying to avoid getting skewered by Limerick´s massive claws. But Lisa did not worry; if there was one tough bastard on her team, it was Jason Mauve Cho. He had endured so much punishment during his time at Beacon that a freaky giggling girl like her would never succeed where Cho's team had not

"I've got the range advantage," Lisa triumphantly cried, raising her rifle and blasting the approaching Vivid with more rounds. He rolled out of the way and barely managed to skid behind one of the pillars, whereupon the whipped out the most massive longbow Lisa had ever seen and nearly nailed her with one of his arrows.

The Adamant could see her life flashing by as she reared back to have the arrow narrowly pass by her throat as if in slow-motion. Why had she never gotten to the twenty arrests? Nineteen was an unlucky number!

The next one she managed to cut in half with Echo before she hastily retreated to one of the large ice boulders lying around. Not the most glamorous way of fighting, but it had to do!

Here was hoping that Grace understood her part of the plan.

* * *

It wasn´t for the first time since they had been teamed up together that Grace Auburn wondered if her team-leader knew what she was doing. After all, this was a fight with actual guidelines, not against murderers. How could people expect team LACG to function within guidelines?

Ah well. Knowing Lisa, they would probably just wing it. Just like Alessa, who seemed to already have a plan on her mind. These woods were thicker than your average woods, meaning that she would have ample opportunity to set up.

Grace dropped another three proximity-mines, which lodged themselves into the leafy ground with satisfying beeps. In the middle of the open, she wouldn't fare long. Her endurance was abysmal, she didn't know any fancy martial arts and she did not possess the mentality to stick a knife on a rifle and call it a knifle. But then again, that wasn't her job. Team LACG had never been about frontal combat. Team RWBY could play that part. No, LACG was basically Beacon's counter-terrorist team in training.

So with that in mind, the little brat skulking through the trees was in for a big surprise.

The demolitions expert threw another fire charge against one of the trees and hoped that Ozpin was not too attached to the forest biome. This Oxford guy was using some sort of suspended rope mechanic to launch himself from tree to tree. It was really frustrating to hear him zoom about and really funny to imagine how he was going to face her when she was done with this place.

But she still needed to find her partner. Alessa was a fragile girl! Of course she was also completely ruthless in her way of fighting due to having grown up in an isolated shack in the North and of course she was more likely to win in a brawl than Grace herself, but still! Someone had to tell her about the bombs.

Most of which were already lying on the battlefield with proximity-fuses primed. That Oxford guy was a slippery fighter; constantly using some sort of complicated rope system to bounce himself from tree to tree, avoiding her explosives.

Then again, it wasn't her intention to blow him up. Actually, it was _always_ her intention to blow things up. Not people though; she wasn't her parents.

Explosions went off a dozen meters or so behind her, engulfing a section of the forest in flames. It sounded like someone had stumbled upon her explosive-trail. Good.

That boy behind her came closer and Grace felt something sharp speed past her neck. She gave a cry of surprise and nearly stumbled over the last piece of ordnance she had dropped. He triggered one of the incendiary devices, but he managed to dodge it without trouble and Grace was forced to whip out her own weapon.

Oxford lunged for her, but from a completely different direction than she had expected. Instead of taking her from the front, he moved in from the left flank!

Grace cursed under her breath and dropped backwards, triggering the jumping mine she had managed to drop there. The explosive registered movement and a micro-charge propelled it upwards, past her head and several feet into the air.

The other student saw it coming, but he was already locked in his attack. His eyes widened in surprise and he moved his arms to shield his face as the jumping mine went off, shattering the trees around them with the blast.

Grace laughed and transformed her weapon back to its ranged form. No using trees for cover if there weren't any!

Oxford barely managed to crawl back to his feet when Grace switched off the safety on her flamethrower and bathed the entire improvised-clearing into a barbecue. Leaves disintegrated upon contact, branches caught fire and the boy's Aura flared in response.

Huh…it just wasn't the same without Lisa enthusiastically shouting "Fire!" when she did that. Oh well.

Oxford then cursed and dove for cover behind one of the wider trees. The commentators yelled something about fire in the hole, but it really wasn't the same.

"Hey Alessa," Grace then said as her partner emerged from one of the trees. "Was that you walking on my bombs?"

"The girl," her soft-spoken partner replied. "She's really eager."

Hah. If Alessa didn't want to be found, she wouldn't be found. Lisa had discovered that the hard way during an Oobleck-authorized session of hide and seek. After a few hours, even Cho had given up.

Leading her pursuer around the forest, ready to make use of all the traps that may or may not be stashed there? Totally her style.

"So did it work?" Grace asked.

Alessa nodded. "Thanks for the bombs."

"You're welcome-"

Something long and sharp shot out from one of the trees and Grace yelped in response, quickly backing off. "What the -Alessa, I thought you had her!"

Her partner shrugged and took up a combat stance. "I thought I did."

Damnit, this was why they couldn't have nice things! At least with Grimm, you knew when your enemy was finished!

A girl approached them from the treeline, whipping out the nastiest-looking whip Grace had ever seen whipping. Divided into segments like someone's backbone and ending in a serrated blade…yeah, even Professor Goodwitch wouldn't be touching that thing.

"You know," Grace said, levelling her flamethrower at the newcomer. It seemed that Lisa and Cho were still keeping the other two busy. "I hold you accountable for this."

Alessa shrugged again. About as much emotion Grace was going to get out of her. "Let's just do this."

Grace Auburn grinned. "Time to trigger the real trap."

* * *

The firefight was still far from over. Although it technically didn't count as a firefight, because handsome Vivid fired man-sized arrows instead of fire.

Now there was a problem with that. Cho wasn't sitting still. And that was a problem because…Cho wasn't sitting _still_. He and the weird, giggly girl he was fighting were constantly dashing around on the ice. It was like Cops on Ice, Lisa's favorite childhood show. It was pretty basic, showing cops. On ice.

The thought of one of her uncles slipping and falling on his ass made her crack up and that was a mistake she paid for. One moment she was sitting safely behind her cover, the next one some asshole was sitting right next to her with his big-ass lance.

"Hello," Vivid grinned.

"Oh fu-"

The asshat jabbed at her face with his lance and it was only because of her formidable Aura and improvised armour that she didn't get another hole to breathe through.

But it was still a lance stuffed into her face and it hurt like a bitch. Again, Lisa Adamant found herself violently skidding over the ice and coming to a rough still against a shard of ice.

"Oh damn! That was Vivid's Semblance! He kicked the L out of Lisa!"

Lisa grunted at the words of her step-step uncle. She still had her L!

"Exactly! Vivid is capable of performing short-ranged teleportation moves and he is using it _very_ effectively."

Thank you, step-step uncle Jack. At least it told her something about this guy. Now she could get to work.

Two figures landed right next to Lisa and she smirked. Now was ass-kicking time!

Lisa jumped at the closest figure and wrestled them to the ground. She uttered a victorious cry and then pounced on what had to be the enemy student, eager for some payback. In response she got an elbow into her face and a punch in her stomach and she managed to get her hands around her enemy's neck, where she-

"Duck!"

Lisa immediately obeyed the voice of the Mauve she had been attempting to murder and rolled aside, allowing her partner to launch his weapon and zap the attacking Vivid right in his face when he tried to return-pounce the two of them. The electrically-charged cables wrapped themselves around his arm and delivered their charge without fail, zapping the guy and causing him to stumble backwards.

"Ooh…" Lisa muttered, realizing that she had nearly throttled her teammate. She jumped back to her feet and grabbed her weapon again. `Oh! I´m sorry!"

"Can you watch it next time?" Cho grumbled, retracting his cables and whipping out his stun baton.

Lisa was about to reply when the part of the forest behind her, exploded violently. As in, trees went goddamn everywhere and flames tore through the rest of the stadium. By the time Vivid and Limerick managed to recover from the massive blast, everybody who had been fighting in the forest had made their way to the central stage.

"Grace!" Lisa yelled, waving at her best friend. "You made it!"

She looked somewhat singed around the edges, but she was still fine. Her Aura gauge still had plenty of juice left. And she had brought Alessa with her!

But LACG wasn´t the only team that was reunited. The two creeps who had been chasing after Grace and Alessa had returned as well and now, team VOWL was back together again.

And just in time for one last batch of asskickery. Nice.

Lisa nodded at her Mauve, who sighed. "I know."

"Bragging rights!" Lisa then shouted, and her team sprang into action.

Limerick went for Lisa with those massive claws, but the Adamant was ready. She channeled her Semblance and jerked at the field of ice underneath her feet, with which she had established a connection at the beginning of the match. Her unfortunate enemy tripped when the ice suddenly surged towards her feet, just in time for Lisa to pounce her.

"Wow!" Geoff cried out. "What was that?"

"Yeah, that's an Adamant thing," Jack replied. "Every Adamant inherits a Semblance of the same type: manipulation."

"It does appear to be a family thing, yes."

The Adamant uttered a cry of victory and moved in to slam the bladed edge of Echo into her opponent's face.

The girl managed to block her strike with one arm, shattering the ice underneath her as the force dissipated.

Damn that girl was tough! And she wouldn't stay down either! Lisa let go of her weapon with one hand and punched her in the face, but nothing seemed to hurt her enough to make her stay still! How did those knockout blows work again? Did she have to work her feet for this?

Her head automatically decided that the best course of action was to kick 'em while they were down until they were down.

"Why! Won't! You! Stay! Down!" Lisa angrily shouted as she angrily attempted to stomp on the giggling girl's head, each time narrowly warded off by those heavy exo-gauntlets of hers.

At least, until Lisa accidentally hit the wrong place on Limerick's arm -the elbow joint, namely- and was rewarded with a sickening crunching sound.

Lisa sucked in a deep breath and immediately backed off, throwing her hands in the air while her opponent went limp. "Shit! Sorry! My bad! Didn't mean to!"

The crowd wasn't really booing her, but it didn't sound very nice. Man, at least this was sanctioned combat. How awkward would this have been had she broken her opponent's limb outside of a fair fight! That would have been totally LACG's style, but still.

Lisa winced at the odd way Limerick's arm was bent now, but at least that was one enemy down. Sort of.

And just like that, the enemy team seemed to fall apart. Vivid thought he could be smart by jumping Cho and forcing him to fight from a position where he couldn't use his electric weapons without hurting himself, but he underestimated just how stupidly stubborn the Cho family could be. And because he was a cop at heart, that stubbornness was enhanced to stupidly powerful levels.

"You can't arrest your way out of this!" Vivid growled at the "helpless" Mauve, who merely sighed in response to being forced into a chokehold once again.

"I know," he wearily replied, before unleashing both of his electrically-charged synapse-launchers into Vivid's face and chest, but not before hooking both of his legs around his enemy's waist to prevent him from escaping.

The subsequent flare of electricity was enough to distract the rest of team VOWL, as they were not as conditioned to ignore freaky stuff as team LACG was. The Aura monitors of both Jason as Vivid dropped below fifteen percent, meaning that both of them would be counted as 'knocked out'.

The amount of volt that his ranged weapons could pump out was enough to knock out an Ursa Major, so it would most definitely keep Vivid on his ass for the better part of the day. And with that in mind, it did not surprise Lisa at all that her little Mauve managed to crawl back to his feet, shaking and smoking.

"Oh damn! Mauve goes for the double knockout!"

Filled with pride, the Adamant immediately moved to get her partner away from the battlefield before some lunatic broke one of his limbs. One problem: that Willow chick saw an easy prey and moved towards Cho at the same time, brandishing her wicked-looking weapon.

Grace was currently dancing around with that Oxford guy, trying to avoid getting strung up in his cable-work. That left only one option.

"Alessa, whip!" Lisa shouted at the sneakiest member of team LACG, who immediately managed to translate the garbled order of 'whip' into 'use clever tricks to knock out the girl with the whip', which she immediately did.

As Willow lashed out at Cho with that barbed with of hers, Alessa jumped in front of the attack and used her own wrist-mounted claw to catch the hooked tip of the whip. The whip whipped around the wrist and got stuck there.

Willow seemed to have anticipated that somehow, as she gave a mighty heave and pulled Alessa off her feet, straight towards her.

Alessa, not being one to be outsped by some gal whose last name Lisa had already forgotten, simply made use of the extra momentum to deliver a claw-augmented punch to Willow's face, instantly knocking her out.

At the same time, Grace triggered the traps she had laid at the very beginning of the match. Explosive that dug themselves a centimeter below the surface, the perfect trap.

One explosion later, Geoff's loud voice indicated that the ambush had been successful. "And that was Oxford, the fourth member of team VOWL!"

Lisa pulled her Mauve behind a rock, lifted Echo to engage additional bad guys and then forgot how to count.

"Oi, Lisa!" Grace yelled at her. "That was it!"

Lisa broke her war-scream off halfway through and glanced at her teammate. "Oh, really?" She then looked around and counted the four broken, unconscious and otherwise incapacitated bodies of team VOWL.

"Yeah, no kidding! Team LACG is the winner! Once again, victory goes to Beacon! Man, what are they feeding these kids?"

Hah…they had done it! Finally, a victory that people were allowed to know about!

And Yang totally owed her ten Lien, too.

* * *

 **Amity Colosseum**

 **One hour after the fight between team LACG and VOWL**

The girl was different from the humans. She was without voice. Her hair reflected the duality that her presence brought him. The colour of a decaying corpse in the rain and the colour of a rising sun above a lake?

No, not like that. What were the names again?

Yes…brown. Pink. Those were the names. Even her eyes were like that, constantly shifting between their two spectra.

And she was small. Very small. Yet she was not a child. She carried herself with the gait of a killer. He did not understand why this was so clear to him. After months of raging silence and burning loneliness, he was able to _see_ again. Though his mind was feverish and his limbs burned with desires beyond his reasoning, he could _think_.

And it hurt. Hurt so. Unbearably. Much. The pain was enough to drive away what little sanity he clung to like a drowning man and it scared him. Frightened him. There was one action that could help him keep a hold of that little spark of reason. Looking at the girl.

She was Attera, but also not her. Her appearance was different. She had a body. She was not her, yet he knew that it had to be her. She had come for him, to safe him from the insanity that was the world of man.

The duality of existence. She so perfectly represented it, even in her behavior. As the other humans came to communicate with her -one-sided, for she was without voice- he kept his eye on her and in turn, she pretended like he was not there.

That was not an issue for him. He was content to watch. The machinations of the world were not meant for him. There was too much that had been lost, too much that was at stake for him. That small, little spark of hope left within the ravaged remnants of his consciousness was far too small to allow him to understand what was going on around him. His world was limited to this girl and her soothing presence.

And the three other humans meant nothing to him. They spoke their words, they performed their gestures, but they might as well have been part of the limited scenery around this place of battles and deception.

He wished they would just leave him be.

"And you are certain of this?" A woman with long, raven-black hair appeared to be the strongest. Her bright, amber eyes radiated a cruelty and assurance that was unmatched by the dull, confused and weak eyes of the other two humans. Yes, she would hurt him if allowed to.

"I know dealing with Greystone is one thing, but _this_ guy? I don't think even you could control him." The only male in this room was a threat in intent only. His dark eyes constantly shifted to him, but he would not be intimidated. Broken his soul might be, his fists had always seen him through. He would welcome the pain as repentance.

The remaining female was afraid. She was weak and for some strange reason that was now far beyond him, he harbored no hostility towards her. "It's Blackwood. I don't care what your source says about him, I am not going to work with this monster."

One word in her speech struck at him like a blade. _Blackwood._

 _Blackwood._ That word was important somehow. He could feel it. It meant something, something really important.

The thought riled him up and the gritted his teeth. Who was she to mean something to him? What secrets did she hide from him?

The girl, with her white, pink and brown clothes, smirked and fumbled around with a small device. She presented it to the ashen-haired woman, who accepted it and stared at it.

"How intriguing…your little friend has no love for the Atlas military. How come he did not attempt to treat you the same?"

The girl pulled up her shoulders. She smiled and he felt the unease that was gathering in his muscles like a brooding storm slowly fade away. With her, all would be well.

"Keep him company. We wouldn't want to start problems when they aren't needed yet, would we?"

The fallen Carrier closed his eyes and exhaled. With the girl, he felt strangely at peace.

Yes…perhaps all would be well indeed.


	15. Chapter 15

_Chapter 15!_

 _Team AMTC = team amethyst, as per Monty Oum rules._

 _Enjoy._

* * *

 _ **Outskirts of Atlas**_

 _ **5 years ago**_

 _Warfare was not something that could easily be named. However, in describing what it was not, its identity could still be found. It was not glorious. It was not heroic and neither was there honor to be found. In war, there was only suffering, madness and the death of morality._

 _Remnant was not a place of beauty or peace, for there was too much insanity and viciousness to be found in this world. Four Kingdoms, hundreds of unprotected cities and millions of creatures of darkness and still humans fought humans more times than they fought the Grimm. People enslaved each other, raped each other, tortured each other and for what? Power? Money? Emotional satisfaction?_

 _Such people could not be allowed to live. Nobody with the ability to change that would stand for it._

 _The wars that had to be waged had become different. No longer could they be called desperate struggles for survival, or adventures committed to the protection of the innocent. There was killing involved in a massive, senseless scale. It was easy to lay waste to an army of Grimm, but to lay waste to an army of men? That was different. It was wrong. What else could it be but madness?_

 _And in the middle of the insanity, Operative Alan Blackwood found himself on the edge of sanity himself. The Onyx Foundation found itself bordering between those two. Insanity and sanity. They were the insane, fighting for the sane._

 _And in time, that perception would change too._

 _It hadn't been the nonstop violence and death that he had done unto the souls around him for years now. And neither had it been the realization that this was what the rest of his life would be like, bleeding for souls he would never even see and who would never even know of his wounds._

 _No, he had found his peace in that, too. He would continue shedding blood for the peace and beauty that was so sparingly witnessed in Remnant, for he was among the few with the blood to spare._

 _The true start of his own madness had begun when they had come to him in the depth of night. Scientists, and lady Greene herself. They desired a piece of his soul and in return, they would offer him a way to protect more people than ever. A way to become a true guardian of mankind. A grave sacrifice to be made._

 _He had accepted without hesitation. His soul was strong enough to bear it._

 _Reflecting on that fateful moment, Alan knew that he should not have accepted it. Had he known what had been waiting for him on that operating table, he might have killed himself then and there._

 _But he had not, and what followed had been unbearable. Weeks, perhaps months, of what could only be described as consecutive psychotic breakdowns of the worst kind, one after another without rest, each one further reducing his identity to that of the screaming, raving entity inside of his head._

 _For weeks at an end, he had been suffering from the waking dreams. As his life unfolded before his eyes, so did a complete life he had never lived at all. Their memories intertwined, their identities crudely stitched together in an abominable mockery of what might had once been called a Soul Bond. It had been a worse pain than any physical injury he had gathered on the battlefield, and worse than any of the many injuries he would gather in the future._

 _Nothing had alleviated it, nothing had soothed it. In time, Alan came to bear witness of the thousands of new pictures and thoughts that rushed through his mind with sufficient force to snuff out the others. On the fourth week, as he later found out, he managed to recover enough of his sanity to start making sense of it. They were the memories, thoughts and agonies of a girl. They were his, but they also weren't. In that situation, the concepts of ´him´ and ´her´ ceased to exist. It had become impossible to speak of separate identities._

 _But, as with every other seemingly-impossible challenge in his life, he had not let that stop him. For many more weeks, he had fought Onyx personnel, his own unfolding mind and her malicious attempts to snuff out his soul in his wild attempts to find out the truth._

 _It had ended when she too had regained her sanity, and the truth had disappeared before his very eyes._

 _Her designation was Attera, and her wrath had been rivalled only by her confusion in her current status. She had been exceedingly unhappy to be stuck in his body and she had tried everything to escape, which ultimately led to two suicide attempts and several Onyx casualties._

 _Alan had survived her hate and discontent, though she had not permitted him to speak to her yet. Her memories were lost to her and what she knew was limited to her previous life, as an actual human being. No longer. Now, torn from her body, Attera was but a fragment of who she had once been. A disembodied soul._

 _A Catalyst._

 _Alan was now sixteen years old and the most lethal anyone at his age had ever been. Sexual maturity was still ravaging his body, changing him in ways that both pleased and frustrated him. As he became stronger and faster, his emotions became harder and harder to control. The same went for Attera, though in a different way._

 _Such thoughts, while deliberating at times, seemed trivial at this moment. Now, as the Operative stood at the top of the unnamed cliffs around the place that had, ten years ago, been a significant Atlesian base, he was pondering just how much he had changed. And with another thirty minutes to go until his target would pass by this place with the fleet and plenty to ponder about, Blackwould could spend his time well._

 _Attera had been with him for several months now, yet she barely spoke to him. He was still trying to make sense of her presence, as well as the presence of his new Semblance. The vile surgery that had grafted the Catalyst onto his soul had also come with a debilitating process to unlock a new type of Semblance within his body, overriding and erasing whatever his soul might have had in store for him. That too had been extraordinarily painful and that too had been done without his permission. He knew that all ideas of personal privacy would eventually have to be sacrificed for the greater good, but it had still angered him. Who were they to change his body like that? Who were they to infuse him with an experimental concept that they didn't even understand yet?_

 _And that kept him confused, even now. He would never forget what had been taken from him, but that wasn't necessary either. He could find peace in his identity. No, what infuriated him was this business with the Catalyst, as lady Greene called her. After this mission was done and over, he would fight his way through whatever facility that was keeping her physical form stored and he would set her free, as any soldier would. That was his personal greater good; to fight for the lost and the weak and to preserve their safety._

 _But before he could do that, he still had to survive this. He had not forgotten his fateful encounter with General Ulysses and neither had Onyx, as they seemed to think it very important that he was the one to take the man's life._

 _Alan would not complain. It was not his position to judge the steps that had to be taken for the future. He was a soldier, a Carrier._

 _But now, as he sat there waiting for the fire to begin anew, he was starting to question his own purpose. General Ulysses´ words had touched a chord within him that he had thought long since cut away by the conditioning. The question that his clearly-superior foe had asked him had lingered on his mind for months._

 _Why did he fight?_

 _He had formed his answer, but when Onyx had Bonded Attera's soul to his…the answer had been burned from his mind, along with most of his sanity and other cognitive functions. But his soul was strong. After he had regained the ability to form coherent sentences, coordinate his movements and think rationally, he had reformed his answer._

 _He was ready._

 _The fleet was rapidly approaching his position now. The satellite information had been accurate; Ulysses was onboard one of those vessels. If he knew the sheer ego of Atlesian commanders -which he did, judging by his experiences with Lieutenant General Ironwood- the General would be aboard the largest shup._

" _Any thoughts?" Alan asked his unwilling companion. Attera almost never spoke to him on her own volition. When she did, it did nor add much to his confidence. However, he had to keep her talking. Establishing a healthy and honest companionship with her would be imperative for the future, though she was not particularly willing._

"I presume this second encounter will lead to your undoing," _she coldly told him._

 _He appreciated her honesty, but he knew it would not go like that. His new Semblance had made him quite resilient to damage in any form. He did not know how it worked or how to trigger it, but it would work out in the end. It always did. His training would see him through. "I would not hope so. I made a promise to you."_

"You should not make promises you cannot keep."

 _She had no trust in him. How could she, when it was his mind keeping her a prisoner? When it was his soul that had ensnared hers?_

 _After he had taken care of Ulysses, he would address that issue._

 _The largest ship sailed by and Alan jumped. The feeling of the wind tearing at his hair, the feeling of weightlessness and then the sickening lurch of gravity, all of remained as amazing as the very first sky-jump. It lasted way too short and when he landed on the massive airship, rolling over his shoulders and nearly skidding right off again, he hoped that the day would come where he could dive from the sky like that and not have to focus on killing in the immediate aftermath._

 _But as it was, the Operative banished the feelings of hope and focused on what had to be done. The ship was huge; enough to carry at least a few hundred soldiers. General Ulysses could most likely be found at the bridge, but Alan didn't feel like traversing the underside of the ship to actually get to the bridge. He would have to fight his way through the vessel and then make his way to the bridge from the inside._

 _And that idea was complicated as well. How many Huntsman and Huntresses did the General have? How many robots and fully-automated defenses? A full-frontal assault wouldn't do him much good, especially when he had no idea how to trigger his Semblance._

 _Alan would work with what he had. Every soldier in Onyx' ranks was trained in stealth operations and the conditioning, together with his formidable instincts, would carry him through._

 _So the Operative ripped open the closest entrance hatch and hopped into the ship. This time, there was plenty of reason to take the General's life. Atlas was pushing their political influence in Vale, which led to several of the well-armed cities adopting opposing views. Conflict was brooding and if it came to war, thousands would die._

 _Thousands_ had _died. War economy, it was called. Perpetuating and instigating conflicts across Remnant to keep people buying arms, to keep people funding Atlas for their projects. The more conflicts there were, the better the Atlesian war machine could justify their research and funds._

 _The better it could keep the fires hot._

 _And in the center of it all stood Ulysses and Ironwood. They were buying money with lives. It had to be stopped._

 _The Operative encountered remarkably-little resistance. Every now and then he would stumble across a small squad of soldiers, but he eliminated those silently and cleanly, without incident. It surprised him that he didn't encounter any Huntsmen or Huntresses in his way and it surprised him even more when all of a sudden, someone triggered the alarm on the ship, forcing him to double-time it to the command center before the General bolted._

 _What little forces he encountered, he easily dispatched. Mere minutes after he had infiltrated the ship, Alan stepped onto the bridge, dropping the limp body of the Atlesian soldier who had tried to stop him. Red lights were flaring all throughout the bridge and in the center stood the General himself, surrounded by six well-armed and well-armored soldiers._

 _They had been expecting him._

 _This might get complicated._

" _Of course," Ulysses spoke. His calm demeanor and smooth voice were laced with a subtle anger. "Who else would infiltrate my flag ship and kill my men, if not an Onyx Operative?"_

 _Alan readied his spear, but did not attack. For his own sake, he had a discussion to finish. "You have gone too far, Ulysses. People are dying by the thousands!"_

 _Several of the soldiers took aim, but the General raised his hand and stopped them, just like before. It was as had been predicted; Ulysses needed a total victory, both martial as moral. "I remember you, war dog. If I recall correctly, you and I spoke of this before, when our roles were reversed. Was it not your mentality to sacrifice others for the greater good? Kill one to save ten?"_

" _Kill ten to save a hundred, yes. But only when there is no other choice! You are deliberately wasting lives to boost your economy. For what?"_

 _The General crossed his hands behind his back and straightened his spine. "In this age of darkness, Atlas stands as a beacon of light and hope. It is our military that will protect the world against the blight of Onyx and the evil of the Grimm. If we are to vanquish this darkness, we_ need _more."_

" _It is what Onyx is for, Ulysses! We are the guardians that stand in the darkness to preserve the light!"_

" _Then explain to me the sheer volume of lives your organization has already taken? The Onyx atrocities, the genocides, the child soldiers? How many lives have you personally claimed for your peace?"_

 _Alan increased the grip on his weapon. "The people we kill are a danger to worldwide peace! We kill criminals, murderers, psychopaths, terrorists! We remove threats before they can ever surface. It is because of our actions that the innocent can sleep safely! We watch, we serve and we protect!"_

" _You, and the others like you, were stolen from your homes to fight a war that was never yours to fight. I ask of you, as I once did, for what purpose? What will you do once your foundation runs out of lives to sacrifice?"_

 _Alan shook his head. "You misunderstand what we stand far._ We _are the ones who give our lives for the many! WE are the ones who die in the darkness, so that others might live in the light! If your Huntresses and Huntsmen are the first line of defense, we are the very last one!"_

 _The General nodded, perhaps understanding. "It is inconsequential. Trained in the art of war you might be, but the deeper mechanics of economy and industry are still lost on you. Atlas does what it needs to in order to better Remnant."_

" _There is no need for Atlas to set up this economy of war. Onyx will stand between the Grimm and mankind, as it has for centuries."_

" _You are a fool for believing we would entrust your shadows with the peace and sanity of Remnant."_

 _Blackwood readied himself. It was moments like these, of calmness before the storm, that made him truly realize he was not meant for a world of peace. He would forge it, but he would not be a part of it. He liked the storm too much for that. "You are a fool for believing we would give you that chance."_

 _The General readied himself too, even as the soldiers around him clicked off their safeties and perfectly lined up their shots._

" _What is your name, soldier?" Ulysses asked once more._

 _To state that he had many names, as some Hunters sometimes did, felt like such a cliché. In his case, it was the truth. But for an Onyx soldier to entrust someone with their true name would require a bond of the highest degree. Perhaps, in a different life, he might meet a woman he could love enough or a friend he could trust enough to share his name. As it was now, General Ulysses was neither._

 _Alan shook his head and the General sighed._

" _No matter. We will learn that and more once we have you in our captivity." To his men, he said, "Take him alive. We're not getting a chance to take one alive this again."_

 _Upon the General's orders, several hatches opened to reveal large, heavily-armored security robots. They rushed towards him, the soldiers opened fire and the battle was joined._

 _Blackwood quickly found that out, for all their armor and weaponry, the robots were pathetically-easy to destroy. His swords cut through their bodies with ease and once he discovered the small power-cores that kept them running, a single strike of his spear put them down for good._

 _However, the soldiers were a different case. They were well-trained and very disciplined, as well as protected by Aura. While Alan could dispatch of the armored robots within seconds, he learned that the men and women in charge of protecting Ulysses were trained in martial arts._

 _Not allowing his target to slip away again, Alan ignored them and went straight for the General. He brought one of his swords down on him from above, intent on slicing his chest from the neck downwards._

 _Somehow, the General managed to block his strike with his arm, without armor and only his Aura. The sheer force of the impact shattered every single window in the bridge and in a heartbeat, Alan whipped his sword over his head and struck from the other direction, which the General blocked with his other arm._

 _The Operative seamlessly alternated between left diagonal strikes and right ones, chaining together at least half a dozen slashes from each direction before one of the soldiers managed to intercept him._

 _Alan broke off, twirled underneath the soldier's straight jab and unleashed an open-palm strike to his partner. The impact sent the man flying into a wall, denting it and then failing to get back up again._

 _They too had melee weapons and they too were trained in using them. As the Atlesian soldiers moved and engaged the Onyx soldier, the General personally joined them and soon, Blackwood found himself fending off attacks that came from every direction. He jumped backwards to avoid a sword and instantly countered by intercepting the blade in its second strike, breaking it in half. He then grabbed the soldier by his head and rammed his knee against his face, knocking him out._

 _Entrusting his heart to the flow of his blade, Blackwood sought out the General and struck at him with his spear. Ulysses deflected the spear to his left and the Operative instantly recovered, striking at the three soldiers closest to him with furious swipes of his spear, before stabbing at the General gain. He retracted the weapon and spun it to deflect several bursts of gunfire, after which he ducked low to avoid a roundhouse kick aimed at his face, courtesy of the General himself._

 _Alan exhaled, but his mind would not calm itself. Frustrated by his lack of success, Alan threw his spear and nailed one of the more trigger-happy soldiers to the wall. He then unleashed his swords and, double-wielding them, dispatched of the rest of the soldiers. Even through their Aura, he took them down with single hits, easily switching back and forth between individual targets with such blistering speed that they couldn't even follow._

 _But more were always there to rush to the General's aid and when it came to Ulysses, Blackwood just couldn't seem to overwhelm his defense. He struck at the man until his limbs grew weary, constantly having to back away in order to successfully counter the fresh batches of elite guardsmen who came to assist their General._

 _Ulysses seemed to move with sudden bursts of speed and strength that seemed superhuman. He still overpowered Alan and outsped him as well, delivering crushing strikes that, coupled with the constant burst of gunfire and other ranged attacks, rapidly drained his Aura._

 _Despite that, Blackwood discovered that every hit he took seemed to be less powerful than the previous one. The first time Ulysses had scored a direct hit, it had seriously winded him. The second time, it had hurt, but hadn´t even knocked him back. The third one failed to affect him whatsoever._

 _However, that knowledge came far too late to be of any further assistance. He did not know how much time had lapsed since he had reached the General, but whatever exhaustion he felt, failed to affect Ulysses. The man´s clothes were torn and his face was bruised, but he didn't seem any worse for the wear. Just what was this man?_

" _Careful with the lethals," the General ordered. "We want him alive."_

 _Something struck Alan from behind and before he knew it, someone forced a ridiculous amount of electricity through his body. He jerked and fell to the ground, his limbs trembling uncontrollably as the voltage coursed through his nerves. A second projectile struck him when he tried to get up, then a third._

" _What's the matter?" Ulysses said, wiping a trickle of blood form his lips. "Can't handle a jolt?"_

 _Can´t a jolt? No, Alan was afraid of the jolt and he also hated it. There had been electricity when he had been young, during training. When he had been young and weak, Onyx had viciously put the fear in him._

 _But despite that fear slowly starting to overwhelm his rationale, the pain seemed to subside. The agony of burning fire through his veins slowly decreased in intensity and before soon, he regained control over his muscles._

" _General!" One of the soldiers shouted. "We've reached the battlefield! Got live targets and lots of them!"_

 _Alan glanced out of a window and saw where the Atlesian fleet had been headed. Another city, outside the Kingdoms and under siege. Another haven lost, another thousand men, women and children thrown to the wolves._

" _No matter," Ulysses said. The soldiers started retreating down the large door where they had come from. "We've already lost the bridge. Get ready for aerial bombardment. I've got this one."_

 _It was that moment that Alan realized that, despite having been destroyed in the skirmish, the consoles around him were still glowing with power. Power that, for all intents and purposes, shouldn't be visible._

 _The consoles detonated with enough force to completely tear the bridge apart and a decade of training and experience took over Alan's mind. He pushed aside his phobia and leapt at the General, who was about to escape through the main door deeper into the ship, where he would be safe from the disintegrating bridge._

 _Ulysses saw him coming but was not fast enough to fully counter him. The two of them smashed into the wall and in the subsequent close quarters nightmare, Alan slammed the General's arm against the wall, crumpling the metal and audibly breaking his arm._

 _A crack that sounded more like a metal frame snapping than a bone cracking._

 _The man gave him an annoyed look and then kicked him in the chest, with more power than any normal human should be capable of. It was only because of Alan's Semblance that his chest cavity remained intact, but the blow knocked him backwards and he fell into the abyss below._

 _Attera's words were the last thing he heard before the darkness took him. "_ I told you so."

* * *

 **Present day**

 **Beacon Academy**

 **Main dining hall**

 **20:14**

The fight between Lisa's team and that foreign team really, _really_ had not disappointed Ruby. It had been unexpected, violent and filled with awesome action. Yang fully agreed with her that no team could bring the boom like team LACG could. And they never failed to amuse.

"So how did you do it then?" Jaune asked Lisa, who merely grinned and popped a can of _People Like Grapes_ Soda. Ruby had no idea where the Adamant had hidden it. The twelve of them were on their way to the dining hall where they could properly celebrate the fact that all of them were successful badassess.

"That fall?" Lisa said with her big grin, "Totally planned it. Gave me total control over the battlefield!"

"You slipped over a patch of ice," Cho corrected her.

Lisa started making sputtering noises. "As if! Totally planned! Yes, indeed! Very much plan!"

Yet another reminder to Ruby that Lisa and her brother Adamant were more alike than she had thought. It had to be a family thing to be unable to complete sentences.

"Her Semblance allows her to control any matter she touches," Grace then further explained. "But it's way too limited to be cool."

"Hey!" Lisa took offense. Things would get dangerous. Bowties would burn. "I might have to stay within three meters…and I might only be able to make things move and change shape and I might not be able to specialize but damnit I'm awesome!"

"Sure," Yang said. They reached the dining hall and she glanced over her shoulder, confirming what Ruby had been suspecting for a while. "Awesome enough to break that girl's arm."

Lisa was in Yang's face immediately. Literally, like an inch away from her nose. Their chests basically touched. "That was an accident! Her elbow got in the way of my boot!"

Yang grinned and took a step forwards, causing the shorter blonde to nearly lose her balance and tumble backwards. "You don't accidentally break limbs, Lisa. You do it on purpose because the _sound_ is so nice. Don't worry, I have that too."

Pyrrha couldn't suppress a laugh. "Yang, please! You sound like you work with Onyx!"

"Depends on your definition of 'work'."

"It wouldn't work, her hair is too long," Will then said, appearing behind Lisa so suddenly that the Adamant lost her composure and screamed like a startled girl.

"Will! Don't sneak up! Very horrible!" She managed to stammer. "Damnit Blake, I thought you finally got him that cat bell we talked about!"

"That is racist."

"So is your face."

"Will!" Ruby exclaimed, flinging herself at his shoulders in her enthusiasm. "You're here!"

And with that, all people, with racists and without cat bells, made their way to the dining hall. Ruby was still elated that all her friends from Beacon had managed to pull through! JNPR, RWBY and LACG had all made it to the doubles round. It was a testimony to the sheer awesomeness that they all possessed, though actually celebrating was a bit difficult due to Will's condition.

Ruby constantly kept her eye on him to see if there was anything going wrong, but so far, things went good. He sat down next Yang, predictably, and then socially entered his own little world by grabbing his Scroll and refusing to look at anyone.

That was fine by her. Right now, Nora, Yang and Lisa were doing enough talking for all of them.

"So we are totally going to kick ass in the doubles," Nora said in-between large mouthfuls of pancakes. "Not personally. I will be spurring Jaune on and Ren will be spurring Pyrrha on!"

"So Jaune and Pyrrha huh?" Lisa then said, suspiciously penning down something on a piece of paper. Blake saw it and just facepalmed, while Weiss raised an eyebrow and then seemed to consider doing the same.

Ruby just laughed. What were the odds of them being forced to face off? Actually, she didn't want to finish that line of thinking…

"Yup! Jaune's like, a knight and Pyrrha the warrior. That is why they will fit together perfectly as a coupl-"

"What Nora meant to say," Ren said, interrupting his partner, "Is that Jaune and Pyrrha have a synergy."

"Cool," Yang replied. "You're pairing partners then?"

Ren nodded. "You won't?"

"Nope. We put it to a vote."

The sound of Lisa bonking her forehead against the table soon followed that remark. Ruby, knowing the junior Adamant's line of thinking by now, politely addressed her. "Something on your mind, Lisa?"

"Yeah, the table," Yang snickered, earning herself an annoyed glare from Blake.

"Hell yeah!" Lisa then exclaimed. "You put something as important as the Tournament on a vote? What is wrong with you!"

Puzzled, Ruby glanced at Yang, then at Blake and finally at Weiss.

"Don't open that door," Yang advised her fellow blonde. "We just thought it was fair."

"And how would you have us do it, then?" Weiss asked.

Lisa met Grace's eyes. "With reasoning and science!"

…After the laughter had died down somewhat, Yang wiped the tears from her eyes and said, "No, seriously though, how did you decide?"

Lisa crossed her arms, looking very insulted. "Hmph! Fine. We counted on vital abilities and favorable statistical outcomes to predict which combination of skills would benefit us the most! Hah, think about that for a while!"

"Basically, you're going to cheat again," Jaune then concluded, leading to his team nodding and mumbling in agreement.

"It's not cheating, but making use of local resources. And Alessa and I can do that the best!" Lisa then replied.

"Well, I have to admit that hacking the arena was a really cool trick," Ruby said. "I just hope that General Ironwood won't be mad that you messed with his stuff. I got the feeling he didn't really like your family."

Lisa just laughed and waved with her hand. "Oh, please! Nobody likes our family! I blame Matt. The General can get straight in line behind the local police department, Professor Goodwitch, the Schnee Dust Company, the White Fang, Professor Goodwitch and your uncle Qrow."

"Wait, what?" Ruby then said, surprised. "Qrow doesn't like your family?"

"Not really. He calls them meddlers. Dad told me about the cranky parts of the Branwen family. Nothing special. Apparently, something happened between your uncle and Matt. Something about him constantly interfering with things he shouldn't be interfering with…like I said, nothing special."

Yang was curious. "Do you really think your brother interfering with uncle Qrow is nothing special? It could be important. They are both Huntsmen."

"Nah, I mean that Matt interfering is nothing special. He is a meddler. A big one. It's his thing."

Ruby wanted to speak her thoughts, but she was got distracted by Will, who was currently working through his own meal in a really odd way. He sort of handled the sharp knife with the same professionalism he had displayed a dozen times before, except that his hands were now trembling much more. And the table got cut a lot more. He didn't look like something was wrong, until it came to opening the can of soda, whereupon he appeared dumbfounded.

"You need to pop the lid," Yang reminded Will, taking notice of his struggles.

"…Okay," he replied, but he made no attempt to actually do the popping. He just stared at the little can, confused and helpless. To Yang, that had to be the worst thing she could have seen.

Years ago, during the dark and hidden hours when they were completely alone, Yang had told Ruby about her mother and how she acted when she grew unstable. Raven had no way to control it, but before the violence started, she had appeared to…forget things. Simple things, like names or how to cook.

And then the hysteria had come.

"I…I remember opening this thing before," Will said, "But I…I can't get it done."

Yang wordlessly took the can of soda, but visibly flinched when she made contact with Will's hand. The memories of her mother's confusion had to be very raw right now. Some wounds never healed.

"Gee," Weiss said, with just the right wrong timing. "Master marksman, can't open canned food?"

Ruby winced, but neither Will nor Yang replied to that comment. She hadn't told anyone about his…condition…because she didn't know enough about it yet. Would Weiss and Blake understand? Or was it better for them to remain in ignorance for now?

"It's nothing," Yang said, probably a lot angrier than she had intended to. "Things happen."

Blake seemed to remember her own conversation with Yang regarding Raven's disappearance, as she quickly changed the subject. "So who's left for the preliminaries? Team CRDL?"

"And team CFVY," Lisa replied, before quietly and growlingly adding, "Damn that Adel…one of these days…"

"Team SSSN too, if I remember right," Jaune added. "Hey Blake, Sun was your friend, right? Do you think he'll win?"

Blake leant back in her chair. "I think he would. Depends on his opponents."

"Oh!" Ruby said, suddenly remembering who else had yet to fight. "One of the exchange students I met! Ehm…tall pretty girl, long black hair?"

"Weren't Emerald and Mercury her teammates?" Yang chimed in.

"Yes! Thank you! We didn't meet their last teammate, did we?"

"No, we didn't," Blake replied. "I guess we'll see."

"Guess so."

As Lisa and Jaune pulled their teams into a massive debate over who would win in an arm-wrestling fight, Braunschweiger or an Ursa Major. Ruby in the meantime, turned to Will and tried to stir up a conversation with him. It was a bit of a tradition to have him sit there with them without ever hearing him talk, but she didn't feel right about that. She was still wrapping her head about everything. "So…did Professor Adamant declare you healthy enough to leave?"

 _Please say yes…_

"Good enough," he replied. "Adamant gave me meds. Should keep me on my feet long enough for-"

"That's crap," Yang growled. It was soft enough that the others didn't hear it, but Ruby did hear it. Very much so.

"Ehm…what?" she said, hoping that she had somehow heard it wrong.

"You don't get meds against mental illness!" Yang said, louder this time. Ruby was _really_ glad that JNPR and LACG were so engrossed in their discussion. "It doesn't work that way, so don't lie to me!"

Will's expression was inscrutable, even though Ruby had always been very good at reading people's body language. She could see that Yang was getting really worked up about this, and for good reason. She should know.

Also, red eyes. Take warning.

"You have the wrong concept of medication in your mind," Will soothingly said, pushing his Scroll over to Yang, who angrily took it. "We're not treating the illness, we're combating the symptoms."

Yang looked over the electronic device and Ruby peered over her shoulders. She didn't even understand half the words. "Wow, that looks like heavy stuff," she said.

"It is," Yang replied, taking in the list of medications that Professor Adamant had compiled. This had to be really sucky for her, having another loved one slowly succumb to mental illness. At least her mother had disappeared when Yang was still young, although that really only meant that buried memories would come back with more force. "Don't tell me you're actually going to be taking these?"

"Some, not all. Professor Adamant wants to see what my Semblance does with heavier medication. After that, it's a matter of days." He paused, then gave Yang a look of…not pity. Understanding, sympathy. Niceness. "I don't lie to you."

Yang looked away, a bit embarrassed for her emotional outburst. People who knew her wouldn't be upset about it; Yang was an emotional person and sometimes, keeping her feelings under control was difficult for her. Ruby understood that. So did Will.

"So why the medication?" Ruby asked, fumbling the Scroll. "I thought the uhm…dementia couldn't be treated?"

"It can't. But if I want to have any chance at freeing Ancilla, Alice and I will need to be as sharp as possible. This-" he pointed at the Scroll- "will do that. We hope."

Ruby winced and Yang slammed the palm of her hand against her forehead. "You hope?" She bit at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Yup. Now it was Will's time to be embarrassed. "Yeah…Professor Adamant is working on a lot of…conjecture."

"What?" Ruby asked, confused.

Yang placed an arm around his shoulder and pulled him against her in a gesture of intertwined frustration and affection. "It means the good doctor is making this up as he goes along. Man, I knew he was an Oobleck!"

Will had a way of looking scared and uncomfortable whenever he was being Yanghandled. Which was odd, because there really wasn't a saver spot to be than in Yang's arms. Ruby knew that from experience. "He's testing his ideas. Most work."

"Most?" Ruby wasn't sure whether to laugh or to cry. It felt so painfully _Matt_.

"I'm still convinced that a small army of students are just as effective as two of you," Yang then said. "You know, to storm the fort."

Will smiled and took his Scroll back. "I think most students would just slow us down."

As fate would have it, Lisa and Jaune reached an impasse in their discussion and because of that, Will's last remark was about the only thing they actually heard.

The two teams turned to look at him and Ruby snickered. He had done it now.

Nora huffed and crossed her arms, insulted. "I will have you know that I am an EXCELLENT gate crasher!"

"She does have an impressive track record," Ren added.

"What do you mean, slow you down?" Jaune of all people asked.

"Yeah," Lisa chimed in. "I have to see _you_ win any tournament matches! We're just as capable of knocking heads as you are!"

Jason sighed. "I wouldn't say that…"

"Yeah," Grace said. "That's going a bit too far."

"Hey now, I agree with Lisa on that!" Jaune exclaimed. "What sort of fighting are we talking about?"

"A high-paced race against the time against organized military-trained special forces with pre-knowledge of an assault," Will replied in a deadpan voice. "In the middle of the night, deadly force authorized."

After a brief pause, Nora then flapped out, "Pfft! Boring!"

"Yeah," Lisa said. "I'm with her. We're Beacon kids! We're flashy!"

"Says the counter-terrorism team employing subterfuge and ruthlessness," Blake then pointed out from behind a book. A book which, Ruby could have sworn, had not been present before.

Pyrrha cracked a smile. "If you put it like that, Lisa's team would be excellent allies, no?"

"Hold on, is this hypothetical or are we actually talking stratagems here?" Lisa replied. "Because I'm not risking jack-squiddly doodle here!"

Ruby scratched the back of her neck, confused. "Jack who?"

"It's an expression, dear."

"Huh…sounds dumb."

Lisa smirked. "Welcome to LACG!"

"So, Jaune?" Yang then asked, displaying a little bit of that classic Yang-sadism that she seemed to like every now and then. "Still sounds like your type of mission?"

Jaune chuckled nervously. "Hehe…nah. I'm good. I mean, I'd get Pyrrha all worried. That wouldn't do, right?"

Pyrrha smiled back at her partner, after which she glanced at Will, looking a bit more worried. "You aren't actually going to attack anyone, are you?"

Ouch…Pyrrha didn't know about Ancilla, or Will's fight against the clock to find her body before his mind breaks apart…or his actual break-off with Onyx. Actually, Ruby had forgotten to share a lot of important stuff with team JNPR. She would do that later though -when LACG wasn't there. She didn't trust Lisa and her team as much as she trusted Jaune and his team for important information like that. Well, part of that. She would tell Weiss and Blake about Ancilla and the dementia disease, but not the others. Will didn't trust anyone with that information.

Will's reply proceeded to thoroughly creep Ruby out. "Well, I'm not saying _that."_

That damn creepy chuckle at the start of that sentence…bad stuff.

But Yang was there to cover for him, as she knew perfectly what he had on his mind. Aside from the Catalyst, of course. "Yeah, he and I got some heavy practicing to work on. I heard the teachers finally got that holo-room working?"

Ruby silently thanked her sister for the perfect distraction. What was Will _thinking,_ letting a remark like that slip?

"The holo-room?" Jaune replied, blinking. "Pyrrha, I need to apologize."

"What for?" The Mistralian champion replied with surprise.

"For once again lacking an proper education. I have no idea what the holo-room is."

"It's an idea," Lisa then filled in, perfectly interrupting Pyrrha's would-be reply. "An unholy union between that Faunus Professor and Sergeant-Professor Johnson."

"And how would you know this?" Blake asked.

Lisa laughed at her. "I laugh at you!" Yes, she did. "Team LACG thrives on knowing things we shouldn't know. It's what allows us to keep up."

That, and cheating.

"Basically, it's a room that allows full-contact sparring with solid holograms," Grace added when her team-leader failed to make sense.

"How does that work?" Ruby asked, confused yet again.

Auburn shrugged. "I dunno. Dust? Dust seems to make everything work. So…yeah?"

That remark seemed to satisfy everybody, as group talk seemed to fall apart after that. Soon enough, both Jaune as Lisa took their teams for leave, because the evenings were free and they wanted to use the available time for things like building team-spirit, hang around the city and those sorts of things.

As for Ruby, she really wanted to spend some time alone with Weiss. Even though Yang would be fighting at Weiss' side during the doubles, Ruby wanted to make sure that the Heiress was completely certain about the Bonding. Professor Adamant was willing to explain to them how it was done, but it was still a very big step. Ruby didn't want to rush anything.

To her, this wasn't about being able to fight better, or becoming a better leader. She wanted to perform the Soul-Bond with Weiss because she wanted to better understand her, and be able to stand with her whenever Weiss felt like she was losing her way.

 _Tomorrow,_ Ruby thought. After Sun´s fight and after congratulating his team for winning, Weiss and her would risk it.

* * *

 **Beacon fairgrounds**

 **One hour after team SSSN victory**

 **16:49**

Another fight had gone by as witnessed by thousands of people in the blink of an eye, while another night had crept by in torturous deliberateness. Long hours of darkness, anxiety, vivid hallucinations and -in an emotional response that had once been deemed impossible, now very possible and utterly embarrassing- crying.

Today was the sixth day without sleep, and Alice had become desperate.

The benefit of rest was not meant for her. With the terrors and oppressions of the day no longer eased by the night, her burden had increased twofold.

Initially, Alice had welcomed the alertness and hyper-concentration that a few days of not sleeping brought her. Initially, her discipline had kept her upright, kept her moving and kept her thinking. And when that had broken down too, it had left a lot of holes to be filled by the hallucinations which, of course, had immediately crashed down on her mind hard.

Now, she was starting to wonder if she had accidentally _killed_ sleep, somehow.

The wind was howling through the trees surrounding the fairgrounds, so loud yet nigh-impossible to hear. The hours slowly crept by and as the hundreds of people wandered past the terrain, constantly yapping and laughing and shouting, nobody paid any attention to the lonely girl sitting on a small table under a tent, resting her head on her arms.

Insignificant, unbearably obnoxious. Alice would have gone on a murderous rampage had she not felt like her mind was about to spiral apart.

Right now, keeping her sanity intact was the least of her problems. She was struggling to keep track of what was going on around her and where she was. Every now and then, the memories of where she had dragged her small and dulled body to seemed to fall out of her mind and her body would tense up, jumbled about its surroundings. She would look around, puzzled and confused about where she was. A combat stance would be attempted, only leading to her losing her balance and nearly falling off the table.

Oh, how much she craved for stimulants. Combat drugs, amphetamines, medication, _anything._ Anything to help her keep her thoughts somewhat lucid. Right now, discipline was failing to keep her properly collected and the only driving force responsible for interpreting her jumbled senses was the conditioning enforced upon her.

And that seemed to be failing too.

Alice was vaguely aware of four people sitting down at the table, loudly chatting and laughing. She heard their words, tried to make sense of them within her head and failed. She tried again, and managed to make out that one was talking to her.

"Mind if we sit here?"

Her temper flared. Alice wanted to tell them to go away. Go away and leave her alone. However, she only managed to moan in return and subsequently, the four girls sat down.

Her mind went blurry then. One moment she was contemplating to get up and walk away, the next moment some sort of electric jolt ran through her limbs and roughly jerked her up.

Alice, realizing that she had just experienced yet another instance of micro sleep, immediately felt her mood worsening. She glared at the closest girl as if was her fault, some kid with indigo hair brushed to the left part of her eyes, a gray shirt and a light blue coat.

"Hey, are you alright?" she asked.

The prospect of starting a fight and having someone knock her out suddenly popped into her head, but she managed to discard that though. It wasn't like her to provoke combat and it wasn't her style to...

Her thoughts trailed off and she was unable to grasp what she had been thinking about.

Time felt like it was torturing her.

An other girl -dark blond hair, violet eyes, green dress and golden armor on certain parts of her body- frowned and shifted on her chair, getting a closer look at Alice. "Wait, do I know you?"

A third girl, with curly black hair and a color-matching outfit, chimed in. "She does look familiar."

It was the fourth girl, with her flaming red hair and brown skirt, who recognized her and unleashed a storm inside the fairgrounds. "That's her! That's the Mantis girl from the news!"

Alice froze, unable to properly deal out the first strike due to reduced reflexes and the fact that she had only managed to hear her designation in that last sentence, not any malicious intent. She was tired enough to let it pass-

The four jumped upright like she should have done and reached for their weapons.

"You heard the General, girls," the girl with the short, purple hair called. "We're not dealing with some pretty boys now!"

Alice reacted with ingrained violence. As the girls were still readying themselves, she shot forwards and grabbed the girl with the long, red hair by her throat. She then smashed her head against the table, denting the heavy wood but not breaking it.

She hissed with frustration. Her muscles were weak, her blows lacked force. The girl with the green armor leapt at her with a stave with a blade and slashed at Alice, which she only narrowly managed to block. She threw a jab at the blonde's head and immediately focused on driving the redhead's face through the table.

Alice felt her muscles scream at her in protest and her reflexes were so sluggish that she didn't even notice the attacks that her body instinctively attempted to counter. Before she knew it, her Aura had been sufficiently depleted and she started taking hits.

When a particularly-fast throwing knife lodged itself into her left shoulder, her Semblance started to itch. And when three of the girls came at her at once, the pain and desperation broke through her hesitation to hurt herself more.

The panic fueled her Semblance and time slowed to a crawl. She didn't want to, she didn't mean to and she hated these four for forcing her to do it, but she also hated her Semblance for this. It was to blame for this, it was to blame for…for…

…where was she?

Her thoughts, already jarring and garbed, now unraveled completely and she could feel a lance of pain shooting through her heart. She hadn't intended to push herself like this and now she was paying for it.

Paying…she was going to make _them_ pay.

Alice drove her foot against the blonde's chest and shoved her back, after which she immediately slammed her elbow against the purple-haired girl's head.

Time returned its normal flow only for a second, allowing Alice to spin behind blondie's back, whereupon her Semblance painfully drew her back into the sub-reality of her rapidly-declining sanity. Sounds were muffled, emotions warped to abnormal proportions and the integrity of her identity wavered.

She also dodged a slow counter-attack and broke blondie's elbow joint with a violent, if sloppy armlock.

Her Semblance fizzled out and Alice immediately threw herself at purply, who was taking aim with a crossbow. She tore the weapon from her hands and kicked her in her head, before immediately allowing her Semblance to reassume its sickening hold on her mind.

The other girl, with her black hair and purple dress, was taking aim at her a series of throwing knives. That was _her_ territory, _her_ way of killing. It didn't belong to them!

Shadows crept across the ground and up into the air, but Alice didn't care. Still witnessing the world through the unique and lonely perceptive of her abused perception, she intercepted the knives right as they left their owner's hand and prepped them for counter-attack.

The redhead, still staggering, had little Aura left.

Her prey.

Alice released her Semblance, watched blondie start screaming and purply reach for her head, and released the knives she had aimed at red's limbs.

Only two of the three actually hit anything, but that was alright. One in both hands was good enough.

The child soldier didn't allow her hated enemies to recover. She no longer saw the four polite girls who had been tricked into attacking a perceived threat; she saw everything that she despised, misrepresented by her sleep-deprived mind and warped by her Semblance. She saw blood stains, spent cartridges and dead bodies. She smelled the sharp, iron-like taste of freshly spilled blood and it was through her overworked, overstimulated senses that she drew her conclusions.

The redheaded girl screamed as Alice drove the throwing knives deeper into her hand, slamming them into the wooden poles of the little tent she had been desperately trying to find some peace under. The girl struggled, but her other hand soon followed and then she was pinned to the wood with both of her hands.

The screaming was _loud_. It pierced Alice's skull and reverberated through her mind, worsening the pain and the headaches. She growled in helpless desperation and resorted to the one underhanded tactic she had learned to accept in her long career as a murderer.

She grabbed the girl with the light blue coat, allowed her Semblance to kick in and dodged a slow counter-attack. She then pinned the girl's right arm over her right shoulder and against her back, straining her shoulder joint to its max.

It became too much for her and she immediately broke her Semblance again, feeling like she was a thousand times worse for the wear. Her emotions felt _raw_ and bloodied. Maybe that was just the knife, which she had just pulled from her shoulder and was now aiming at her prey's throat.

"Wait!" the remaining combatant yelled. She dropped her weapon and extended a hand to Alice in a meaningless gesture. "Stop!"

Alice could barely understand her now. Her hand was trembling and what was left of her instinct told her to get over with it. The brat in her arms was squirming and crying and was simply begging for a dislocated shoulder and a slit throat.

The former she couldn't rationalize against, so she increased the pressure on her arm and felt the corded muscles tremble in protest. The cries became different.

"Alright, you win! I don't know why you're here, but you win! Just let us go!"

…go? It didn't work like that. Alice had won, so these four belonged to her. You didn't just 'go' after a defeat.

Alice grew very tired of the struggling and the grunting that her prey had committed herself to, so she put more pressure on the strained limb. The fingers spasmed, the joint started trembling too and slowly, it reached the breaking point. It was soothing to her mind; the one thing she could control. That pleasant feeling in the back of her mind.

Then, she put in a little bit of extra force and was rewarded with the sudden jerk of her prey's shoulder, which dislocated in response to her teasing.

The screaming didn't stop though! It grew worse! It was punishing, maddening and Alice wanted it to stop. She wanted it to go away and never return-

She just wanted to sleep.

But as she increased her grip on the knife, she heard a different voice. One she didn't really recognize, except that it was male.

It was bearable, marginally more bearable than the girl in her arms.

"Hey! What's going on-? Alice, what are you doing!"

Alice didn't recognize the boy with blonde hair, naked chest and yellow tail.

 _Sun. Sun Wukong._

 _Blake._

Yes, yes she did. She did recognize him. The memories of that evening rushed back to her mind and helped her steady her hand, which had been trembling precariously against her prey's warm throat.

"Goway…" she muttered. Several of the knives that the other girl had dropped were now floating. That demanded her attention after this was over, not him.

"Ehm…what?"

Yes, even she had not understood what had just exited her mouth. "Go away," she repeated, louder this time.

"Go away?" Sun repeated as well, much louder than she had. "Alice, you're hurting people! I can't just walk away?"

Stupid. Of course he could walk away. He had to! If he didn't, she would kill him too. She didn't want that, but she would. It was her nature.

"Do you know Mantis?" the remaining unwounded girl shouted at Sun.

That. Was not. Her name.

"Hell yeah I know her! Now shut up before you really piss her off! Alice, you gotta listen to me! Killing these girls is _not_ something you want to do! It's like, the last thing you want to do."

She longed to simply drop the knife and stop the killing, but she couldn't. It was the only thing that she was good for, the only thing that made her feel alive. They had started this, so Sun could just…sit back and wait until she was done. Yes. That was a good idea.

"…their fault," she quietly said. As difficult as it was to string together coherent thoughts, speaking actual words was even worse.

"I know, it probably is, but they're just kids! If you keep hurting them, more people will hate you! Blake surely would! You don't want that, right?"

She didn't know. That idea meant nothing to her. "Will you?" she asked.

"Probably, I guess? But it's not about me! It's about you! So please drop the knife so we can talk about this, without anyone having to die!"

People always died. Death was everywhere and always. It was…

Alice looked at her right hand, surprised to see that the knife had already slipped out of it. Huh…so now she couldn't even hold the thing that was the closest to her heart anymore?

Robbed of the one thing she had been able to control, she couldn't keep holding back the tears, which immediately started rolling down her cheeks.

The next thing she knew, she was sitting on the ground with her back against the wooden pole, while Sun was trying to get other people to join them.

"Hey! Over here, we need help! Is there a doctor? We need a doctor!"

Alice closed her eyes, but still could not find sleep.

Today was the sixth day without sleep, and she was desperate.

* * *

 **Thirty minutes later**

"She did _what_?"

"I'm telling you, she totally kicked their asses!"

"Did anyone get hurt badly? Did anyone die?"

"No! At least, I don't think so? The girls were fine when I checked on them. Well, not fine, but-"

Blake sighed and immediately headed towards the staircase that would lead to the courtyard. When Sun had come to her, yelling something about a massive problem, she had assumed that Neptune was off drowning in a well or something. Not…not this. "Where is _she_ now?"

"How am I supposed to know! The girl's unhinged, she could be everywhere!"

"She's not unhinged, she's-"

Blake wanted to verbally lash out at Sun for calling Alice unhinged, but she couldn't. He wasn't wrong; her friend had just openly attacked four students from a different Kingdom, in clear daylight. Alice had admitted it herself, back when they had been meeting in secret. She wasn't what people would call sane.

She did not want to believe it at first, hut now…how did this happen?

"So is this a normal thing now?" Sun loudly asked as he ran after her. "Your friends trying to kill people who provoke them?"

"It's not normal!" Blake shot back as she jumped down a flight of stairs without pause. "At least, not for her. She wouldn't!"

But even as she said that, the doubt she had been carrying with her for months caught up with her, and deliberately started eating away at her anxiety. How well did she know Alice, really? How well _could_ she know a girl who had been conditioned to murder people at the drop of a hat? It had taken her much longer to tolerate Will and he had Yang to keep him back. To keep him _leashed_. Would she have to do the same with Alice? Did the ex-Operative need the same?

If so, it would be too late. An attack by Onyx-affiliated people on exchange students would be bad enough, but on Beacon's soil? The Kingdom could now demand the perpetrator to be handed out. If this team NDGO decided to press the issue...

Blake recalled that Atlas had basically threatened the Operatives in Vale with death at least once already…she didn't want this to end with blood, she didn't! It had been bad enough with Adam! Enough people had suffered already.

"Where are we even gonna find her?" Sun continued. "Blake, she's not like us! She's a-"

"Don't say it!"

"-a very unstable person. Blake, come on. You can't ignore what she is. That would be dangerous."

Blake halted, hating how conflicted she felt about this. "You gave me a chance, didn't you? Back when I told you I was with the White Fang?"

Sun placed a hand on her shoulder. "That's different. When you were like five, you joined a peace-loving organization for peace. When _she_ was like five, she was kidnapped into an Onyx-organization that for Onyx-things. And you wouldn't pin a girl's hands to a wooden pole with knives, or slowly rip their shoulder apart."

The Faunus girl winced. "Did she really do that?"

"Yeah, sorta. She had that girl in a shoulder-lock, but she kept struggling and Alice was bleeding too. It was bad."

"How did you even stop her?" Blake asked, remembering her own fateful conflict with one of the Onyx soldiers, not too long ago. She had showered for hours, trying to wash his blood off her hands. Adam's face had leered at her that night.

"Oh, that was easy. I remembered how much Yang and Ruby and you seem to like them, and they didn't seem that bad to me, and she looked really tired and I had to tell her to stop because killing wouldn't help her." Sun paused. "And then she just dropped her knife and fell to the ground! I had to prevent both her as her victim from cracking open their heads against the floor."

Blake vowed to find a way to thank him for defusing a situation that could have led to a national incident and continued on her way. Her Scroll buzzed and she answered it, not breaking her stride.

" _I assume that by now, Sun told you about the incident in the fairgrounds?"_

 _Will._ Blake's heart leapt and she immediately replied, thankful to have someone who knew Alice even better than she did to help them. "He did. Where is she now?"

"Who is that?" Sun asked, but she ignored him.

" _What will you do?"_

"What do you think?" Blake loudly replied. Then she realized how nonsensical that sentence would be to him and added, "I need to find out if she's alright. Sun said she got hurt too. Tell me where she is?"

Will sounded remarkably hostile when he gave his reply. " _I don't think you understand. Vacuo is livid. They know who did this and they're screaming for blood. Their students are, too."_

"Will, if people get to her before we do, this will only get worse."

"Is that Will? How did he know I talked to you? Is he watching us?"

"Sun, please…"

" _If you help her now, you will be harboring a criminal. That will make you an accomplish. Wukong too."_

"Hey, he knows my last name!"

"I don't care," Blake told the Operative, glancing at Sun to see if he felt the same. That big banana smile of his told her enough. "The world isn't black and white. If Ozpin harbors you and me, I can harbor her."

" _I hoped you would say that. We're at the cliffs."_

A few months back, Blake wouldn't have done it. She would have simply ignored everything and stayed hidden, away from judgmental and prying eyes. However, staying on a team with Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose tended to change one's perception on the world. Back with the White Fang, she had learned that inaction only led to more grief. And with team RWBY, she had learned that the best thing to do was not always the easiest thing to do. More often than not, it wasn't even legal.

But if it was right, then all efforts should be made to do it.

Apparently, when Greystone said that they were at the cliffs, he meant that they were sitting all the way on the edge, mere inches away from falling off.

Blake wasn't really surprised.

"So what's wrong with her?" Sun asked as they approached the two Onyx associates. "She didn't look…you know, healthy."

"I think I know," Blake replied. Will has kneeling next to Alice, who sat precariously close to the edge of the cliff.

She wondered how the girl would survive a fall like that. She _had_ defeated an entire student team on her own in close quarters, but it had exhausted her to the point of falling over. If this was what she thought it was…well, falling would be the least of Alice's concerns.

"I gave her a shot of morphine," Will said, pointing at a small bruise on her left arm. "Her conditioning will take care of the rest."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sun asked, but nobody answered him.

"What happened to her?" Blake asked, checking her friend for signs of her Semblance overuse. Rings around her eyes, pale skin, a thousand-yard stare and who knew what was going on inside of her head. "How did she get into a fight?"

Will shot a look at Sun and said, "Apparently, Ironwood gave everyone standing orders to apprehend us on sight. Moron. That team NDGO must have pushed their luck."

Blake ignored that particular amount of stupidity from Atlas' side and focused on the more important parts. Ruby could sort that out. "Didn't she sleep at all?"

If he was surprised at her knowledge, Will didn't show it. "Normally, she gets a few hours during the day. Not at Beacon; too many unknowns, too many threats. Her mind can't deal with that."

"Is anyone going to tell me why I had to stop Alice from stabbing four girls to death?" Sun then exclaimed, much to Blake's annoyance. "Seriously, not everybody speaks Onyx here!"

Will soundly ignored him. He seemed to be exceptionally skillful at that. "Can you take care of her? I would, but…I don't think I can."

"Sure, of course," Blake immediately said. Alice was a close friend of hers and she still owed the girl for her actions of the past weeks. "What do I do?"

He shook his head. "I don't know. She'll recover. She always does, but…just keep her safe."

Keep her safe…that somehow suggested that he would not be looking over her himself. "Where will you be?" Blake asked. Despite her mixed feelings towards Greystone, she would feel more secure in knowing that he and his years of experience would be watching over them.

"I have a package to retrieve. I'll be back tomorrow. That's a promise."

"A package?" Blake repeated. She glanced at the cliff and she started to get the picture. "What, all the way here? From who?"

"Not here. Somewhere else. Look, Blake, yesterday I ran into some students too. I don't know what Ironwood is planning, but you can't trust him. You should warn the others."

This was one of those relatively rare moments where his expertise far outclassed her own, so she simply nodded. "I'll take good care of Alice."

He smiled. "I know."

And with that, Greystone stepped over the edge of the cliffs and disappeared into the trees below. Blake, feeling that he could take care of himself, shifted her attention to Alice and gently picked her up from the ground. The ex-Operative felt surprisingly light and frail, even more so than Ruby. If she had been on the run for the better part of a year, she must have rarely had time to eat at all.

"Right. He jumped off the cliff. Of course he did. So, can you _now_ tell me what happened?" Sun asked.

"It's…her Semblance." Blake remembered her conversation with the Dancer like it was yesterday. She had been appalled to learn how detrimental one's Semblance could be to their personal health and she had hoped that it would never get this far, but…well, here they were. "It greatly speeds up her perception of time and reality-"

"What, she can see in slow-motion? That's awesome!"

"-but it also destroys her biological clock, effectively giving her chronic insomnia."

"…That's not awesome."

Blake nodded sadly, resting Alice's head against her shoulder and taking her back to Beacon. "She can function with very little sleep, but..." She recalled Sun's description of the fight, especially how Alice had just stopped doing anything at one point. "To get this bad, she must have gone a week without sleep."

"How bad is that?"

"People start hallucinating at three."

"So, very bad."

Much to his credit, Sun stuck with her all the way back to RWBY's dorms, even though this shouldn't have concerned him. He and Alice hadn't exactly gotten along very well, back when they had helped her hunt down Torchwick.

"And what was that part about Ironwood?" Sun asked when they got back to the dorms. "He's the General of all Atlas forces, right? What's his deal?"

"That's…complicated." Now that she had the more important case solved, she could focus on the other one. Ironwood ordering students to apprehend all Onyx personnel at sight. A completely deranged order, in her opinion. Did the man _want_ an open war between Kingdoms? "But I guess, Onyx is."

"Well, duh. I can understand that; Onyx _is_ a problem. A bunch of sociopaths and murderers." Upon seeing Blake's amused look, he asked, "What?"

"Nothing. That's exactly what I thought, too."

But the memory of that young soldier, Ruby's age, reaching out for her exposed Faunus ears as he lay dying did not fit with her perception of what it meant to be a sociopathic murderer. Things were very complicated and, just as she had once told Weiss, things could rarely be divided into good and evil, black and white. There was an entire grey spectrum that carried both the White Fang as Onyx on it.

It was both interesting as unsettling how much alike those two organizations were. Had they not been mortal enemies, Alice and Adam might have gotten along somewhat.

"So, you don't think so anymore?"

No, she supposed she didn't. "I have seen research facilities that would give you nightmares. But I've also seen both Will and Alice risk their lives for Ruby and Yang. Cal, Lily and Ash are still here and they're still good allies." And friends.

"Cal, that's the fox-guy, right?"

Blake sighed. "Right."

"Yeah, I know that guy. His partner is hot. Well, I mean, for a soldier. Wait, no! That came out wrong! What I meant-"

"Sun, please," Blake interrupted him. "That is hardly the deepest hole you've dug."

"Cool, thanks. Wait…hey!"

Blake smiled and watched him open the door to RWBY's dorm, grumbling under his breath. She then gently placed Alice on her bed, hoping that Zwei had not somehow turned itself into a pillow there.

She was in luck; the dog wasn't present. Perhaps Sun had scared it off.

"Nah, guess not. So are you just going to let her lie there? Doesn't she need meds or something?"

Blake glanced at the ugly wound in Alice's shoulder, wondering how the girl had let het Aura deplete like that. Sun and her had bandaged it up during the trip back to Beacon, but it still didn't look very good. "I think that won't be necessary. If the General really ordered all the students to just go ahead and arrest all Onyx personnel on sight, she won't be save in the med bay either."

Sun scratched his neck. "So what do we do now?"

Blake had no idea. "Nothing. Will is the only other person she trusts and now he is gone. Again."

"Come on, you don't think she trusts me a bit more?"

Blake looked at him. "Huh?"

With a big smile, Sun said, "Because I totally helped and stuff! I made sure nobody got really hurt, talked her out of doing things she would regret. And when asked, I had no clue where she had gone!"

"And I'm thankful for that," Blake replied. "But I don't think it's that simple. I didn't even trust my own team, the first few weeks. I have no idea what she went through."

"Well, I can guess?"

"I'd rather you not."

* * *

Armed with multiple papers worth of seemingly-irrelevant yet very relevant papers, Doctor Professor Matthew Adamant the First knocked on Headmaster Ozpin the First's office, failed to knock on the door because both of his hands were occupied and then decided to instead kick in the door with his mighty boot.

Judging by the way the current inhabitants of Ozpin's office responded, that might not have been the most intelligent choice of the day.

If looks could kill…well, Glynda would have murdered him the first day they had met, but if looks could kill, the collective glares of Goodwitch, Ironwood and mister Yale would have obliterated him where he stood.

But in this day of modern warfare, looks could only instill PTSD and the Adamant bravely ventured deeper into the lair. He feared no reprisal, for he had been lied to and now he was politically pissed off. "Ah, yes, hello there. I was looking for the psychiatrist, Eve van Wit?"

"In my office?" Ozpin remarked. At least he remained civil.

"Adamant, of all people I would appreciate _you_ visiting a psychiatrist the most," Ironwood growled. "So why don't you turn around and get yourself checked out?"

"Keep your pants zipped, General," Matthew replied and dumped some of his papers on the desk. "Your guns are showing. Good afternoon, Commander Yale. Which rock did you crawl from?"

"Matt," Glynda said, seething with anger. "You are interrupting a _very_ important meeting!"

"When don't I? I have a nose for important meetings. Now, I was particularly interested in-"

The door behind him opened and two other people marched into the office. One was a very handsome woman with white hair tied in a knot and the other was a very handsome man with short, dark hair and red eyes.

Matt couldn't give less of a Dust about the obvious Schnee, but it was her companion who got his interest. "If it isn't my good friend Qrow! How are you doing?"

Qrow grunted with discomfort when the Adamant tried to pull him into a hug and shoved him off. "Get away from me, Matt. I'm not here for you."

"Aww, still mad about the shipment? Or was it the explosions?"

"You replaced my flask with one containing soap."

"What can I say? Your breath stank."

"Sir," the Schnee said, saluting. "I apologize for the…delay. There was a situation."

"At ease, Winter. I am well aware of the situation. Have your men found him yet?"

"Of course not," Qrow answered for her. "And they're not gonna. Frost is slippery-"

"Like the soap?"

"-like an Adamant. Your little display of power didn't do anything except prove that power won't be stopping Onyx."

"General," Winter then said. "If I may, I no longer believe that there is a reason to try and detain Frost. We should focus-"

"That is quite enough, Schnee," the General cut her off. "That is not up to you. Of all people, I would expect you to understand how dangerous he is."

"There's more to him than just-"

"Enough! Schnee, we'll discuss this incident back on my ship."

"But sir!"

"Winter. Leave."

The woman saluted the General when Matt would have decimated his argument with a few words. But such was the way of military and as such, Winter turned on her heels and exited via the door that led to the elevator."

"The boy failed to seriously hurt anyone," Qrow pointed out. "How scary is that?"

"And you! Why are you here? You've been out of contact for weeks and the agent escaped during the same period of time you finally showed up!"

Matt found some serious sexual tension going on between Branwen and Ironwood. Very ominous, but he wasn't judging!

"Well Jimmy, trying to gain information on an NGO superpower that would rather blow up a city than risk getting information on their favorite food go compromised isn't very easy. Our shady pal there can attend to that."

Matt pointed at the grumpy crow with his thumb. "Me too."

"I don't believe that Frost Schnee is our most pressing concern right now," Yale said. Which was odd, because the last thing that Matthew had heard about the man was that he was still nose-deep in Onyx clandestine operations. Wasn't he supposed to be the enemy? Commander of Onyx forces in Vale and all that? "We should focus on an actual enemy."

"Yeah, great idea," Qrow sneered, facing the General. "Let's talk about the enemy you sent me to get intel on. The enemy who is here!"

Ironwood leant against Ozpin's office, the rapscallion. "We know."

Oh? How intriguing. Matthew made himself as unnoticeable as possible and listened on.

"Oh!" Qrow said. "Oh, you know! Well, thank goodness I'm out there risking my life to keep you all informed!"

"Qrow-"

"Communication's a two-way street, pal. You see this?"

Matt did. It was a Scroll. It had a send button on it.

"That's the SEND button!"

He knew it.

"Despite all the military bravado, Atlas communication technology isn't up to date," Yale remarked. He crossed his arms and added, "You're far from the only man out there and Scrolls aren't reliable."

"Adamant,' Ironwood then loudly said, turning to face him. "Why are you still here?"

Matthew shrugged and then placed a finger at his chin, pretending to think. Everybody knew that his thinking pose was completely different. "Let me think…because I like conflict? No…because I like information? Wait…oh, right! I don't answer to _you_."

"Funny. I wonder on whose jurisdiction you operated when you _murdered_ those three-hundred civilians in my Kingdom!"

"James!" Glynda exclaimed.

Matt felt his anger rise up and he became very careful in picking his words. "My own, of course. Had I operated on your jurisdiction, I would have waited until the Grimm had reached the place they were actually being summoned to. You know, the one with thirty-thousand civilians? Speaking about incompetence, tell me, did you discover who was responsible for killing Amber yet?"

An uncomfortable silence arose after that remark. Had the Adamant not been so driven by the reopening wounds of guilt, he might have gleaned some information from that. As it was now, he simply decided that enough was enough. The General didn't know it yet, but he had just made a remark he really, _really_ should not have made.

"Not yet. But we will. Had it not been for your utter inability to protect your team, there would have been no need for this."

Hah…the one statement that was completely true. Matt had failed her. His friend, his leader, his partner. And now she was gone and he would live on, carrying that blight of failure. "Yes, well, had you allowed me into your little Maiden fanclub I could have done something. Tell me, did her killer inherit all of her power?"

Words. Magic bullets that no armor or Aura could protect against. Qrow nearly dropped his flask, Goodwitch sharply inhaled and Ozpin sighed, closing his eyes.

Ironwood became outraged. "What? How-!"

The Adamant walked past the General and fixed his bowtie. His voice dropped to a whisper and in that instant, even Glynda knew not to interrupt him. "What, did you think I didn't know about this secret little secret? Did you think you could keep me out of your little loop?"

"I-"

" _Let_ me tell you something, General," Matthew said, his voice dropping to a whisper. "I have witnessed the beginning and the end of the Atlesian caused Death-War. I have defied an army of Grimm in what your people now call the 'Great Agony' where I have seen the lives of hundreds of people unfold in a single, terrifying, freezing moment. A moment that _I_ had to cause. Even on your territory, I exceed you! I have walked on battlefields where the rules of engagement were devised by the minds of a _madman_!"

The General fell quiet, rightly so.

"How long did you know?" Ozpin then asked.

"I was the first Amber told," Matt replied. Memories snuck up on him.

 _For a second the glimpse of his partner he saw_

 _And in that moment she beckoned to him._

"And when they took Cinder away from us, all those years ago…we were forced into several situations where she had to use her powers. There were no secrets in our team."

 _And in that second the memories were all that remained_

"And the wounds are reopened again," the Adamant whispered. Memories. Sometimes he hated them.

"Right," Qrow said. The voice of the unsober man sobered Matt up again. "Team AMTC fell apart after Cinder disappeared. Huh…Autumn shouldn't have told you that."

What could Matt say? Amber had always been fond of him. Cinder too. He had enrolled in Beacon when he was fourteen paired up with Amber and graduated at eighteen, when she had been twenty-one. Being the young prodigy with eager to learn everything that could be learned had not stood in the way of them growing to love him.

And him secretly loving Amber back.

"Lovely," Yale coldly said. "Can we please focus on global peace? I believe Ironwood was explaining why he deemed it fit to bring his army to Vale?"

Qrow chuckled. "I believe he was trying to be discreet. That, or he just didn't give a damn."

Ironwood gave Qrow a dirty look, but that was nothing compared to the death glare he had reserved for Yale. It didn't really surprise Matthew though; after all, he was still figuring out just what an Onyx Commander was doing here, discussing the secret of the Four Seasons.

"Discreet wasn't working!" Ironwood growled, clenching his fists. "I´m here because it´s necessary. Let me ask _you_ , Onyx, why you are here? Did your little coup at Vale's outskirts not work? Or did you hope Ozpin could share with you the secrets that your old boss wouldn't?"

Ouch. Shots were fired. Leave it to the General of Atlas armed forces to completely misfire it though.

Yale was not impressed. "Spare me your ad hominem. A competent leader should know by now that Onyx has no need for coups. They already control most of Remnant. What happened at Vale's outskirts was, as far as I understand it, a distraction. Regardless, I see your hesitation in having me here. I feel little for knowing secrets. I am not here because it is the right thing to do. I am here because it is the right thing for the innocent and weak to do."

"And what better way to protect those weak and innocent then an army? When people look at the sky and see my fleet, they feel safe, and our enemies will feel our strength."

Matt took special note of Ironwood's 'my fleet' instead of 'our fleet'. "Funny. Onyx fields soldiers who can one-v-one any Huntress or Huntsman. And as the leaked report showed us, they have tens of thousands of such soldiers. I don't feel much saver now, General. Did you feel their strength too?"

Qrow started laughing. "Hah…compared to what Onyx got, your army is nothing, Jimmie. And _they_ aren't afraid of Onyx. I've been out there and I've seen the things she's made, and let me tell you -they are fear!"

"And fear will bring the Grimm," Ozpin stated, standing up. "Yale, the children that Onyx fields are meant for war, but they are not guardians. A guardian is a symbol of comfort, and the knowledge of their existence is anything but comforting. There's an observation everyone has made now. If there is an invisible army out there…and a visible army here…what are we fighting?"

Ironwood glared at the Headmaster before sighing, and picking up his Scroll again. "So then, what do you suggest we do?"

Ozpin glanced at Matt, who shrugged. "I suggest we find our guardian."


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

* * *

 _ **Vacuo**_

 _ **Slaughter of Refuge**_

 _ **2 years ago**_

 _Blood coated the edge of her blade as Mantis withdrew it from the stomach of the Huntress that had attempted to stop her. The woman gasped and clutched the hole in her abdomen, stumbling backwards. Never before had she been wounded like that and because of it, the sickening pain and gushing of blood all but crippled her._

 _The sacking of Refuge. Twenty-thousand defenders, a hundred-thousand remaining civilians. Ten-thousand Onyx soldiers, running wild and free in the city_

 _The rules of engagement were nonexistent. All restrictions were gone. The one thing that kept their horde from committing too many atrocities was their focus. Raping and pillaging was inefficient. Murdering and destroying was much quicker, much more familiar._

 _Behind the Huntress, the three young soldiers she had attempted to guard were overcome by their fear and opened fire._

 _Her Semblance kicked in and she moved, faster than they could follow with their naked eyes. In the span of one second, she had slain all three of them. Small bodies fell to the ground in a pool of their own blood and their guardian slowly bled to death._

 _Mantis lust for blood had waned, but there was no end in sight. A trickle of blood had become a river and now, it was drowning all of them. The only way out was to give in, to fully immerse yourself._

 _Wounded, lying, crying. Fathers moving and dying. All around her was the smell of death and fire. So she deadened her emotions even further and moved on to the next house. All professional fighters -soldiers and mercenaries and hitmen- had all perished in the first two days._

 _What was left…_

 _Mantis dropped in through the roof, bypassing the hastily-erected barricade that the old veterans had set up to stop the horde of rampaging child soldiers. She dropped in their midst and, before they even noticed that their perimeter had been breached, cut them down where they stood._

 _They were so old, so fragile. Scarred, crippled by previous wars. They seemed to come apart underneath the caress of her blades. At one point, it stopped being funny._

 _Too fast for even one cry of mercy to escape the slaughter._

 _Planes soared overhead to bring destruction to even more structures. Their assault was tearing the city apart. Hundreds upon hundreds of well-trained, well-armed Onyx troopers, given free rein to do however they pleased. This wasn't war, this was slaughter. Entire fireteams of the sick and the old and the young were torn apart, sometimes literally, by single black-clad armored child soldiers, ecstatic because of drugs or violence or plain old happiness._

 _Finally, they got to do what they had been abducted for all those years ago. Finally, they got to take every ounce of their fear and hate and rage and sorrow and take it out on the world that had abandoned them, to reap what the society that had failed them had sowed._

 _She had been like that at one point, too. The bodies she had left in her wake…the carnage she had unleashed…_

 _At one point though, when the people who had wronged you were dead, when all the adult men and women who carried themselves with the gait of a combatant were gone, who did you turn to?_

 _Operative Mantis had yet to find out. Not knowing who to blame anymore, she kept on the move, kept killing. Sometimes, she would encounter a rare group of unarmed combatants. Perhaps civilians, perhaps people strapped with bombs by the corrupt executives in charge of this bleeding heart of Vacuo._

 _She couldn't risk it. So she killed them, too. The men, the women and even the children. How could she offer them mercy, when those in charge of Refuge had armed little girls with daggers? They were too dangerous to let live._

 _Mantis wiped the blood from her duel katanas and stared at the ruins of what had once been an apartment building. Again, a part of herself begged her to stop the violence and killing, begged her to at least leave the innocent alone._

 _Again, the Operative killed her emotions and rationalized all the murders with the same, increasingly-hollow excuse. Here in Vacuo, there were no innocent people. They were all enemy combatants._

 _They were the enemy. They were all to blame. The governments, the military, the cartels, every single person she was sent to kill. They were responsible for her lot in life, for all of them. They had their chance to flee from this fight before and they hadn't taken it!_

 _More reasoning wasn't needed. Mantis replaced her guiltiness and feelings of blame with those of anger and bitterness, which was a lot less painful to do._

 _Yes, she reasoned, seeing the destruction that her fellow Onyx children committed themselves to. It spoke to a part within her she rarely neglected in the battlefield. Something primal, animalistic._

 _They deserved this. All of them did._

 _~0~_

* * *

 **Present day**

 **Abandoned section of Vale**

 **Coordinates: [EXPUNGED. REFER TO ATTACHMENT 2B]**

 **3:00 PM**

The air shifted when Will left the borders of the Emerald forest. He could feel the relative safety of the forest fade away the second he saw the restricted district of the city, where only the occasional Grimm wandered around, searching for victims that had long since perished. Bound by their fear, by their grief.

Shortly after the Breach, another hole had been opened, right underneath that population center. Creatures of Grimm had butchered their way through this area, causing hundreds of civilian casualties. The bulk of the Atlesian military and Beacon students had been focused on the first insertion. Nobody had noticed the second one until it had been much, much too late.

The place was stained. Memories that lingered, emotions that had reached a bloody crescendo as lives unfolded in a single, passionate moment of madness. A place like this, where the Grimm had rampaged due to human interference, would never be inhabited again.

Tainted.

But he did not fear the Grimm. He never had. In the cover of the night, shrouded by the shadows, only his own demons could find him.

And they _would_ find him.

As Will made his way towards the city, eyeing the occasional Grimm that wandered around the landscape, he felt a wave of haziness coming and he braced himself against the broken hull of what had once been an Atlesian Paladin. He closed his eyes and waited until the dizziness faded way, lamenting his lack of firepower. While he told himself that he didn't want to attract any attention, he simply did not trust himself with a firearm anymore.

When his legs stopped trembling, he opened his eyes again and moved on, entering the abandoned city block. There were no soldiers or police officers around now. After all, who would be insane enough to want to wander around this place at night?

Though his legs had steadied themselves, his perception of his surroundings had not. The nighty grew darker, the shadows lengthened. The silence was deafening.

Ancilla had retreated far within her own mindscape, in no small part due to his insistence. This was a place of darkness, where someone like her should not wander. The shadows were meant for people like him and Alice. Well, perhaps when she was healthy again. Wavering at a place like this at the wrong time…

Will snorted and pushed open a door that had hitched at a jagged piece of metal, forcing it open. Though physically diminished, Alice's mind would not falter in a place like this. The same could not be said for the likes of him.

He caught movement in his peripheral vision and spun around, narrowing his eyes to better see in the darkness. He caught the faint outlines of a piece of furniture, standing against a bloodstained wall. Nothing more.

So he moved on. His reason for being here was a fairly simple one. If Cinder found out where Onyx had locked Ancilla away, he was going to cut loose completely and raise nine sorts of hell down there. Anything less would result in an unacceptable defeat. But to do so, he needed to gear up. An old colleague of his had provided him with the means to win such a ridiculously-lopsided fight, but he wasn't going to risk someone at Beacon finding out. The last thing he needed was people like Ironwood or Goodwitch find out that he was preparing for war.

However, in hindsight, requesting the supply drop in a place like this had been foolish. The simple truth was that he had overestimated himself. If he could handle the stress of ten years of fighting, surely he could handle the stress of dementia, right?

Wrong. And the primal sense of fear and helplessness was a testimony to that.

Will slowly reached for his Scroll and checked the coordinates of the drop again. Three-hundred meters to go.

He swallowed a lump in his throat and moved on. He wished that he could depend on his instincts now, but he guessed that it was compromised as well. After all, that tingling in the back of his neck, that told him he was being watched, would not go away.

The ex-Operative stepped through a hole that had once been a front door and glanced around the interior of the house. He saw nothing, but he could still not shake that feeling of being watched.

A shiver ran down his spine and he immediately spun around when he heard footsteps echoing through the house.

There still wasn't anything there.

He took a deep breath and advanced towards the stairs. It might be a better idea to travel via the rooftops to avoid exposure.

The house he was traversing through was a large one, unfortunately, which meant that reaching the roof was somewhat difficult. He really had to stay focused to not stumble over his own feet, which was a really hard thing to do when the properties of his surroundings seemed out of whack.

He ended up at a junction with four doors, all of them leading to a different direction. One of them would lead to a fire-exit or balustrade, right?

The first door proved to be the wrong one, as it led to a dark room with only a small window and a single bed. There was something about its interior that greatly disturbed him and he quietly closed the door again-

Footsteps, directly behind him.

Will nervously looked over his shoulder and saw nobody. Had he been mistaken? Or was something really stalking him?

Door number two…contained a larger room, equally as dark as the first, with two beds and a closet that had been hastily closed, as the door still hung somewhat open. No luck there.

He closed that door behind him as well, not to confuse himself. The third door was equally useless, leading directly to a bathroom with scattered supplies lying all over the ground. Who would leave their stuff like that and then close the door behind them?

Will turned to the last door, which stood opposite to the second door. That one had better be the right one, or…well, there wasn't much he could to except for move to a different house.

He took a deep breath and tried to push his rising sense of unease away. He grabbed the knob of the door and pulled, but the door was shut tightly. Why didn't it-?

Again he caught motion in his peripheral vision and again he spun around to face this invisible stalker.

All the doors he had closed were open again.

His hand fell past his hips, brushing past the spot he had so often carried his sidearm on.

Was it just him, or did the closet look a lot more open this time?

Will wasn't about to let a potential hostile environment at his six, not when he was already so vulnerable. He kept his gaze on the junction as he reached for the door and gave it a rough jerk, rocketing it against its hinges. The noise he made echoed loudly throughout the hall, but it failed to elect any sort of reaction from the darkness.

Relieved, the turned to face the door again.

Then, the eyeless woman grabbed a hold of both of his shoulders and threw him against the door, which suddenly swung open to reveal a small flight of stairs.

The fire-escape.

With a cry of mixed surprise and fear, Will fell down the stairs, landing awkwardly and painfully on the dark stones below. He clumsily rose to his feet, panting and clutching his side. When he hurried to look back at the site where the apparition had laid its hands on him, he saw nothing. An opened door, a dark hallway.

Nothing.

Unfortunately, it didn't stay that way. Even as he looked at the dark interior, a form became visible within its shadows. Dark, messy hair concealed most of its features, though there wouldn't have been much to see anyway. Black tentacle-like appendages seemed to grow out of its mottled and waxy dress which, many years ago, had been a beautiful tint of white.

He bit back a curse and anxiously looked around when he started to hear rustling and faint giggling, coming from all directions.

Appearing from open windows, shattered walls and even holes in the concrete, came more of the nightmarish creatures.

Panic overcame the child soldier as he fell back to the ground, desperately searching for a way to escape.

There were none.

"Get away!" He frantically yelled at the creatures that moved to surround him. They moved without a sound, erratically and inhumanly.

Of course, they paid no heed to his cries.

He crawled back on the ground, terrified out of his mind. "Get the fuck away from me!"

The raging waves of panic and dread that had taken control of his rational mind seemed to make way for a hint of confusion, and he heard someone speak to him from within his own head.

' _Hmm…shouting profanities at shadows is hardly you, isn't it?'_

Will blinked and the apparitions were gone. No longer was he faced with the visage that dominated his dreams, no longer did the icy terror that stained his reality so horridly oppose him.

That primal, untraceable terror subsided somewhat. Enough to allow the ex-Operative a moment of clarity and sanity.

' _I suppose it will be back soon. You should move while you can.'_

The child soldier rose to his feet once more. His head was pounding and he had difficulty standing, but he was up.

He glanced around, confused at his surroundings. "Where…what am I doing here?" He asked. Such a stupid question…it felt so…so _sheepish._

Ancilla's voice was gentle, though firm. ' _Vale…I think? You are searching for a weapon.'_

"Yes…" Will muttered. "A weapon…"

Of course. Onyx had provided him with the means to stand up to entire teams of Huntsmen or Huntresses, just like the old times. How had he lost focus?

' _We need to move, before it returns.'_

Will nodded, but an uncontrollable shiver ran his spine and the muscles in his neck involuntarily tensed up. "It…what is it?"

' _It's…it's not important now. Just stay ahead of it!'_

Something was wrong with that comment. He wasn't sure what though, so he decided to do as she said.

The old concrete seemed to oddly muffle his footsteps as he navigated towards the drop point, but they still sounded too loud for his tastes.

It was a terrible feeling, no longer being able to discern reality from delusion. He had hallucinated before -oxygen starvation, drugs and blood loss, strangely enough- but nothing like this. It was even worse than before he had freed Ancilla's soul from that dream machine. Knowing that reality could shift into a delirium at any moment with no warning was chilling, loathsome and utterly terrifying. Claiming that the things he saw when he was at his worst couldn't hurt him had not prevented them from doing the impossible and _hurting_ him.

He hated it. When he looked at the people around him…when he looked at what it did to Yang…to Ancilla…he just hated it and himself.

And knowing that, technically, his delusions came from a brain disease didn't make it better.

Possibly, it made it worse.

But he trekked on, refusing to give in. Even when reality fell apart /him again and the demons appeared from the shadows, and his motoric control was reduced to that of a stumbling fool, he persevered. Severe pain was never prolonged and these things that so effectively stripped him of his sanity, only did so temporarily.

As the closest abomination lunged for him, grabbing him by his throat and lifting him in the air, he felt a surprising hint of recognition, that did not come from within him.

Shouting profanities at shadows accurately described what he was like when this illness robbed him of his reason again. Even when the creature dropped him to the ground, never succeeding in permanently maiming him, his body lacked that fine control that he had once been proud to possess.

 _Guilt._

Will dragged himself away from the apparition, exhausted and trembling. He cursed himself for having left before Professor Adamant had prepared the first batch of medicine. He had retrieved the man's last ingredient from his colleague at the Amity colosseum himself!

But he was close now. So close.

 _Guilt._

He did not know where the emotion came from and neither did he care. He needed all his concentration to stay focused at the canister that had embedded itself within the road, a few meters ahead.

Lifting his arm, the child soldier reached for the weapon-locker that his associate had air-dropped in this very night…

…only for it to uselessly drop to the ground when the memories promptly fell out of his head, as if taken and discarded by some unseen force.

Will stared blankly at the canister, confused. What was it doing here?

 _'Focus!'_

Where was here?

 _'Please!'_

He was…he…he could not remember.

 _'No!'_

What was _he_ doing here?

 _No…_

He closed his eyes, suddenly feeling very tired. The ground was hard and cold, but it did not matter. It was dark and he was tired and that did matter. He needed to take it easy. Perhaps if he just…rested…he would find it again…

 _Don´t!_

His eyes fluttered and then, slowly, everything went dark.

 _I am so sorry…_

 _I can´t stop it from hurting you…_

 _But I can keep_ you _going._

Something stirred within him, compelling him to open his eyes again. Though faint, he caught the outlines of a beautiful, white-gold figure standing beside him, glancing down at him with features shrouded behind waist-length hair. Her feminine shape seemed garbed in a strange, purplish light.

Behind her, as if draped across her lithe frame like a great, heavy cloak, was the shape of something horrible and evil. Something eldritch, which eluded his senses. It towered above the woman, who appeared oblivious to its presence. Dark appendages seemed to flow from its transparent body.

Had he not sensed the malicious, wicked presence that the being emanated, he might have assumed it was a form of guardian.

A vile guardian to a graceful angel.

He blinked and cocked his head. He didn't understand; these two beings were far beyond him.

The female gestured at the pod in the shattered concrete and the malicious shape around her moved along with her.

As she gestured, a single word echoed through his mind, cutting through the haze and confusion like a blade.

 _Move!_

Will sharply inhaled and scrambled towards the supply pod even as the mirage shattered into a million golden specks of dust. Behind him its dark, twisted versions followed him like mad dogs, pouring out of every crevice, shadow and bloodstain to take him away.

Conditioning and reflexes drove spurred him on as he grabbed a hold of the supply drop, unlocked its bio-lock with a single motion and grabbed the hilt of the sword that was stashed within. As his hands made contact with the weapon, the magnetic rails inside of the black coffin launched the blade outwards. He directed the blistering speed of his blade and aimed it upwards, cleanly cutting the first apparition in half.

Dark blood and gas spewed free from the apparition as the sword betrayed its true nature.

The deep-purple blade ended its motion and remained aimed at the stars above as Will placed his other hand on its hilt as well, dozens of memories coming back to him.

A grim sense of satisfaction arose within him, experienced by both Ancilla as himself. He allowed himself a brief, feral grin and felt the dread that the ghastly abominations had caused him make place for a savage delight. The collapsible suit of armor in the supply pod would have to wait.

There was killing to do.

' _Alright, just this once,'_ Ancilla said, finding marginally more success in containing her relief than he did. ' _It's not a relapse, because it's for practice.'_

"Just give the word," Will said, bemused. He had missed the experience of cutting through swaths of hostiles with a blade.

Ancilla giggled. ' _Sic 'em.'_

~0~

* * *

 **Beacon Academy**

 **RWBY dormitory**

 **The next day**

If there was ever a benefit to uncle Qrow's constant haze of alcohol-induced Qrow-ness, it would be that he never seemed bothered by the odd things. Of course, it could just be because he had seen a lot of odd things during his own missions. Maybe even a combination of the alcohol and experience.

Qrow wandered inside their dorms, looked at the half-starved semi-conscious body of Alice lying on Blake's bed, went "huh" and simply waltzed over to the television screen to sit his old butt down there.

 _Case in point,_ Yang thought, joining him and Ruby at the screen. It had been a really long time since she had last seen her uncle and after having heard that him, Ruby and Weiss breaking Frost Schnee out of Ironwood's brig was just the _start_ of his antics at Beacon, she had been desperate to hear more.

Of course, Ruby was more desperate for his affection than she was, which was why the little redhead got her first turn.

"And _that_ is how we achieved victory in the North!" Ruby proudly declared, all the while horribly losing to Qrow at the video game the two of them were playing. "Even Professor Goodwitch was impressed."

Qrow chuckled. "Right. So you kids went on this frozen expedition to make contact with lost villages, teamed up with two Onyx Operatives to beat a third, hitch a ride in a giant truck, get lost in the snow where you two conveniently find a lost _city,_ while your buddies find a dead village and your other buddies find a secret Onyx lab? Where some crazy coot was still doing his experiments, so you had to bust your friend out before he could slice her open?"

"Yup!"

"And you expect me to believe that?" Qrow said with a big, cheesy smile on his face.

Ruby pouted. "But it's the truth! It really happened! We navigated through five levels of secret Onyx rooms, found team LACG after Grace busted out with an explosive she hid in her bra and then rescued Alessa! Who then beat up the insane doctor so badly that Will had to write a report to Onyx declaring that the guy had fallen down three flights of stairs while handcuffed!"

But Qrow merely laughed at her distress. "Easy kid, I believe 'ya. It's hardly the wackiest thing I've heard."

Yang crossed her arms. "Oh, we've had wackier things alright. We encountered two new Grimm species that nobody ever saw before!"

Qrow smirked. "After-action reports from other Huntsmen and Huntresses say otherwise."

"Well, we got to name them!"

"One of them. The other was named by the Adamant…"

Ruby glanced at her uncle. "Ah! That's right, Lisa said that you hate the Adamant family! Is that true?"

The blonde's Scroll buzzed and she glanced down, half-expecting another emergency to pop up. Luckily, it was a lot better than the idea of another fight,

+ _I have something to show you. Do you want to 'hang out' in my room? +_

Yang smirked. Of course she wanted to 'hang out', even though he used the phrase like he was Professor Port trying to talk like a teen.

 _+Sure. Got uncle Qrow over. See you in thirty mins? XXX.+_

Unsurprisingly, his response was half glad and half confused.

+ _Mins? Minutes? Sure. What´s XXX? +_

She chuckled. + _Look it up :3 +_

After having directed her boyfriend to search for XXX-related subjects, Yang made use of a fatal moment of distraction at Ruby's side by bumping her sister out of her spot and snatched the still-spinning controller out of the air. "My turn!"

Qrow merely grunted in response and selected his character. "Right…the Adamant clan. Now _there's_ a respectable family. And with respectable, I really mean completely cuckoo. Professor Adamant used to be their scion, their _heir,_ until he messed up so badly that he disowned himself and disappeared for a few years. Can't blame him."

As Qrow started wiping the floor with Yang, Ruby pursued the subject, explaining that Lisa didn't exactly seem cuckoo to her.

Yang didn't completely agree with that one, but she had to focus on hauling a victory out of this match.

"Well, compared to the average civilian, she's insane. Compared to her family, she _is_ the average civilian. Girl's got her heart in the right place though. More than her old man."

"Her old man?" Ruby asked. "Her father? What do you mean?"

"Well…the Adamant clan is -was- the foremost family of Hunters in this Kingdom. Most respected, most gifted. They still own a manor down west. But they've got this problem, where they base their entire lifestyle on never killing people as a rule, then breaking that one rule whenever things get real. They then disown themselves and hope the next generation fixes it." He paused. "Morons pinned their hope on Matthew as their perfect heir. The guy had it all; smarts, talent, even looks."

"Professor Adamant enlisted when he was younger than you," Yang teased. "He was what, fourteen? Eighteen when he graduated."

Her uncle mumbled something and then added, "Yeah, and he messed things up harder than I could ever hope to mess. Up. Let's just say that Ironwood can't stand him, he can't stand Ironwood and Ozpin is stuck in the middle."

"But that doesn't explain why _you_ hate him!" Ruby then pointed out.

"Yeah yeah…he's not a bad guy. Better than most."

"So why-?"

"Because he messes up the natural order!" Qrow then replied, louder than Yang had expected. She raised an eyebrow, surprised at that sudden outbreak. Alice shifted in Blake's bed, but didn't move. At least that proved Ruby's theory that sleeping with your head on someone's lap right. Yang hadn't heard much about the reason why they now had a daytime sleepover, but compared to everything that she had experienced at Beacon, this wasn't really all that weird.

Ruby winced. "Natural…order? What?"

Qrow, seemingly realizing his mistake, grumbled under his breath and scratched his scruffy chin. "Sorry 'bout that…things are meant to go a certain way, kid. They always do. I know that, Ozpin knows that. But your Professor Adamant has this annoyingly-uncanny ability to show up as the right guy at the wrong time. His annoyingly-ridiculous Semblance lets him change the way things go. And when he uses it, he annoyingly reshapes the course. The natural order."

"That's triple-annoying," Yang said. Losing in a total annihilation to her uncle in the game was quadruple-annoying. "He rubs you that bad?"

"It's not the way he acts, it's his existence…the way he _lives._ When he meddles, the natural affair of things goes out the window! At least he tries…can't say the same for the General."

Yang glanced at Ruby, who nodded. "Yeah, about that…you know the General?"

Qrow seemed to ease up somewhat. He certainly left his grumpy demeanor behind. "Hey, I know everybody to some extent. Remember, you're talking to a member of the coolest team that graduated Beacon!" And with that, he reached in one of his pockets and produced a stained, old photograph. One that Yang had never forgotten, not in all those years since her mother had disappeared. He sighed, as if remembering good times. Good times like Raven abusing her daughter and disappearing. "Hah, Team STRQ... That's where I met your parents. We were pretty well known back in the day."

Ruby glanced at Yang and instantly saw the effect the photo had. Ruby never missed those things. "Well known for crummy fashion sense!" She said, intent on easing the subject somewhat. "And inter-team romance…yeah, that too…"

 _You´re not helping, Ruby!_

Perhaps Ruby felt Yang´s glare burn in the back of her little redheaded head, as she was quick to change the subject. It was just that she did so in the most disastrous, embarrassing way possible safe for accidentally pulling off Yang´s bra. "So, did Yang tell you that she got herself a boyfriend?"

Yang fixed Ruby with a stare that, for all intents of purposes, should have incinerated her on the spot. _You little…_

Ruby nervously smiled and pretended not to see it.

"A boyfriend?" Qrow said, covering his mouth in mock surprise. "Hah…" he dropped both of his shoulders in that bird-like gesture of his and said, "So you finally found a guy who's not scared of dating a girl who can kick his ass then?" Qrow then glanced at Ruby, snickered, and added, "I hope he doesn't break when you poke him."

Qrow's big, stupid grin ticked her off even worse than his comments, but Yang decided to stay cool. She had a trump card in mind. "As a matter of fact," she said with as much dignity as she could muster, "he _is_ sturdy enough." She wanted to say something to put her uncle in his place, but she had to be careful not to accidentally reveal just whothey were talking about. Bragging about Will's experience would be suspicious. Or even worse, Qrow might think she was seeing an old dude. "And I think _you_ would break sooner than _he_ does when I do the poking."

Qrow chuckled. "Yeah? We'll see about that. Who is this guy?" He asked Ruby.

Who then proceeded to freak Yang completely out by saying, "Oh, just a guy named Will. But I think you know him as Greystone."

Yang _glared_ at Ruby. _You are so dead._

Ruby gave her a sheepish grin back. _Worth it,_ it seemed to say.

"Wait…" Uncle Qrow then slowly said, as the alcohol-riddled gears in his head started turning. "I know that name…Greystone? As in, Onyx Operative Greystone?" He stared at Yang with his mouth half open, as if deciding whether she was pulling his leg or just plain crazy. "You're dating _him?_ "

Yang snorted. "You say that like it's a bad thing. Yeah, he's a bit weird. You know what else he is? Kind and honest. It's kind of _rare_ to find guys at who don't care at all that a _girl_ can outmuscle them. Especially here at Beacon."

"Ah…" Ruby then said, staring off into the distance. "Team CRDL…good times."

But Yang wasn't done yet. "And besides; Ruby is dating a Schnee."

At that remark, Ruby skin changed colors so fast that people could have mistaken her for her cloak. She glared at Yang with a ridiculously-cute expression of anger and indignity, which Yang would savor for the rest of the day.

"Ah!" Ruby exclaimed, pointing at Yang with a little finger. "Evil evil evil evil!"

Qrow stared at Ruby as if he had just been told that she had become the queen of the Grimm. He blinked a few times and then forced himself to lessen the glare. He failed. Horribly.

"Please…" he croaked, closing his eyes. "Tell me that you are _not_ seeing _Frost-_ "

"I'm not!" Ruby was quick to say. "Honestly!"

Now it was Yang´s turn to snicker. "It's Weiss. Weiss Schnee."

The look in Ruby's face was priceless, but Qrow's was even better than that! His expression was frozen somewhere between anguish and disbelieve.

"Weiss Schnee?" He finally said in a hilarious pitch. "You're dating Winter's little sister? Your teammate? _The Heiress?"_

Yang prodded her uncle with her elbow. "Dating an Onyx member doesn't sound so bad now, does it?"

Ruby angrily crossed her arms and looked away. "For your information, I _like_ Weiss! And she likes me! We like each other!"

Qrow pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to make sense of all of this. He glared at Yang again, and growled, "You're dating an Onyx goon? And _that_ one? Your father's going to get a heart attack." Then he looked back at Ruby. "You're dating a _Schnee? I_ am getting a heart attack!"

Ruby's response existed out flinging a pillow at her uncle's face, who nimbly dodged it and then flashed her a nasty grin.

"Only old people get heart attacks, remember?"

Qrow reached for his heart, pretending to get struck there by a lethal projectile. "Ah! You got me. Guess I've only got one thing to do, right?"

Yang frowned and glanced at Ruby. "I'm not liking where this is going…"

Their uncle gave them a smirk. "Since Tai ain't coming to Beacon again for a while, I'll just have to see if these two are any good for you…"

Yang rolled with her eyes and gestured at the door. "Not gonna happen. There's the door. Out."

"Yeah!" Ruby added, smiling. "We don't need old crows to check up on us!"

Qrow was in her face within a second, pointing a long finger at her chest. "Don't call me old, kid. I'd like to see you look as good as me when you're my age. Now, I gotta go anyway, Oz needs me. You two keep on the lookout, alright? Just because Onyx is keeping a low profile, doesn't mean they've stopped. You don't want to get between them and their enemy."

"Their enemy?" Yang asked, surprised. "Who-?"

But her uncle wouldn't have it. "The door, right? Good luck in the next fight, kids."

After that mysterious remark, Qrow left, and Ruby let herself fall on Yang's bed. "Gah! Why can't he visit more!"

"I guess because Huntsmen are really busy all the time," Yang replied.

"Hmm…yeah…what do you think, Alice?"

The little bundle of limbs and clothes lying on Blake's bed stirred and then softly moaned. "I think something is wrong with my shoulder…"

Yang, alternating between staring at Ruby and Alice, could only muster a weak "what?" as the situation started making sense to her. The girl was _awake?_

"I guess that´s where that Vacuo student stabbed you."

Yang pointed at Blake's bed, confused. "Ruby, when you told me that Alice would be staying over, you didn't tell me she got _stabbed._ And you!" She added, addressing the girl herself. "How long have you been awake?"

The girl moaned again, like she was suffering from a bad hangover.

"Yeah," Ruby then awkwardly said, rubbing her neck like she had just been caught stealing cookies. "I kind of forgot to mention the reason why Alice was staying over…you see, there was this incident on the fairgrounds…"

Sure, that had been on the news. Three girls got injured after a fight broke out with unknown assailants, sometime after Sun's fight. "The fight that broke out? Sure. What did Alice have to do with…" Yang trailed off as she remembered that the leader of that team had stated it was Onyx attacking them, not students.

 _Damn._

"Alice, _you_ started that?"

" _They_ started it…I only finished it…" the girl weakly said.

Yang could have screamed. "Seriously? After Beacon went through an entire mess to get you and Will under its protection? When will you learn-"

"Yang," Ruby interrupted her. "Sun broke up that fight. Even that team admitted that they started it. Did Alice really act any different from how Will would have acted?"

"I-"

"And would you have blamed Will if this had been his doing?"

Yang wanted to protest, but her sister had a point. And she had to admit that. "…No. I guess not. But why would students attack you? What did you do to them?"

Alice muttered something under her breath, but it was too slurred to make sense out of. Now Yang was not easily creeped out by things, let alone intimidated. But after having spent months getting used to Will, talking with Alice still wasn't the most pleasant things to do. The girl had this 'killer' vibe about her, much worse than Will had.

"Excuse me?" Ruby pleasantly said. She didn't look unnerved at all. Just what did she see within Alice that Yang failed to see?

"…metal bucket-head…with his toy soldiers…"

Ruby and Yang looked at each other. "Ironwood," they both agreed.

"What about him?"

Ruby's voice had a harsh tone to it as she replied. It wasn't really like her. "Blake heard it from Will. Get this: apparently, the General has been secretly telling students to ehm…arrest or remove any Onyx personnel on sight, outside of Beacon."

Yang had to take a few moments to process what her sister had just told her, and with each passing second she felt her outrage grow, until she was no longer able to contain it.

"WHAT?" She all but screeched, taking great care to avoid scorching the room to a crisp. Flames were licking the outer fringes of her hair and limbs. "That BASTARD! That suicidal moron! Is he INSANE?!"

Alice moaned and weakly pulled at the pillow, shoving it over her head. "Loud…"

Ruby tried to soothe her, but she was only moderately successful. Yang hadn't felt outrage like this in weeks. It felt good to be able to vent once in a while, but under these circumstances she would rather just go punch something. A lot.

Or something else. Anything to alleviate the stress. But she couldn't, because _he_ wanted to wait. Damnit, even _that_ was complicated now!

"I know, I know," her sister hurried to say. "But Cal and Lily can take care of Ash and as long as they stay in Beacon-"

"He has no right! None! If that moron takes it one step too far, one of our friends will strike back, and there _won't_ be a need for a second attack." Yang didn't need to say more. It was with no small measure of pride that she could say that her boyfriend could beat the General of Atlas military forces and mean it.

Of course, that was precisely the problem.

"Wait…" Alice slowly pulled herself together. "Ironwood tried to have us arrested? Us?"

Ruby nodded. "Yup."

"With children?"

"Yup."

A brief pause. " _Us?"_

"Yup."

The Dancer rolled with her eyes and let herself fall back onto the bed again. "And then people call me a baby-killer…"

Yang was about to ask what the hell that was supposed to mean when Ruby interfered. That happened a lot; her sister was really focused on keeping the peace. "Well, if you just stick around at Beacon, it'll be alright. We can go talk to the Headmaster about this, too."

"Why is your first response to an attempted murder to go _tell the teacher?_ " Alice then sneered.

Yeah…Yang didn't really like her. "Because the teachers individually pack more punch than the entire Vale Police Department combined?"

"Not impressive."

Yang rolled with her eyes. "Whatever."

"We can´t just let this happen," Ruby said. "Ozpin can reel the General in and then everything will be fine. Nobody needs to get hurt anymore. Are you going to be alright?"

Alice looked away. "I'll be just fine. I gotta go look for a comfier bed…"

Yang grumbled something in response and glanced at her Scroll to check the time. There was an unread message on it, too.

+ _I think we could make that work, If you like those things,+_

Yang felt her cheeks flush with heat. Alright, she had not expected such a positive response. She had grown accustomed to teasing him about stuff like that. Finally, making progress! If only she could decide how to feel about Ancilla…she did not consider herself a picky girl, but the thought of sharing…it didn't sit right, somehow.

"Hey Rubes?" She said. "I'm dropping by Will, see how he's doing. Wanna come?"

Ruby seemed thoughtful for a few moments. She glanced at Alice, who had already drifted off again, then turned back to Yang. "I guess that's cool. Weiss isn't around right now; she's doing…stuff."

"Still trying to deal with Frost?"

Her sister winced. "It's difficult for her, the whole family thing. You and I mess around and make fun, but she never got to do that."

Yang glanced at Blake's bed and then nodded at the door, prompting Ruby to take their conversation somewhere else.

"The Company's under fire for what they did," Ruby continued once they were on their way. "Her sister and her don't really get along that well and…now, what little family that views her as more than just the Heiress…"

"Is globally known as Frost Schnee, child soldier and sociopathic murderer," Yang finished. "Man, I thought we had that whole 'psychotic soldier' mess behind us."

Ruby shrugged. "Well, it makes for an awkward family matter…she still needs to sort that out. An ehm…Yang? How did you find out between Weiss and me? We never told anyone."

Yang chuckled, awkwardly rubbing her neck. "Yeah…Blake told me. She didn't want to, but she was a bit worried about you two."

"What?" Ruby exclaimed. " _Blake!_ It´s always the quiet ones…when did she know?"

"About a few weeks."

"Oh…note to self, put Zwei in Blake's bed…" To Yang, she said, "And you don't mind? I mean, you're not going all…big sister on her?"

Well, Yang had considered doing just that. But between her trying to figure out how to make a relationship with Will work and Blake letting Alice fall asleep on her lap, there were about zero reasons to worry about Weiss and Ruby liking each other. "Not really. I'm hardly one to talk, right? Of all the students running around Beacon, I'm just glad you found someone you can trust."

"I knew you wouldn't judge."

It took Yang a few moments to understand where her sister was coming from. When she did, she was very surprised. "Judge you? For what, loving a girl instead of a guy? Ruby, you know that I swing both ways myself. Why on Remnant would I judge you?"

Ruby nervously fiddled with her cloak when she replied. "I know, I know, I just…guess I was just worried. To Weiss, it's a huge thing. She doesn't want her father or sister to find out."

That awkward moment when the sociopathic child soldier with a grudge was more tolerant than the head of the Schnee Dust Company.

"Yes, but that has nothing to do with you and everything with the Company. Just wait until that judgmental fart gets run into the ground by Onyx. When Weiss builds it back up, there will be nothing to worry about!"

Huh…looking forward to Onyx taking action. That was new…sort of.

"You're right. I dunno how long that will take though…"

Oh, her adorable sister was just worrying about things when she shouldn't. Ruby was the last person on the team in need of worrying right now. "Rubes, you don't need to wait at all! Just do your thing." She realized what she was saying and promptly went back on her words to lend some context. "And by that I mean your totally-innocent, not at all sexual relationship with Weiss."

Ruby had to smile too. "I guess we can always ask Frost to help speed up the process, right?"

Yang assumed that Ruby meant the fall of the Schnee Dust Company. "Sure. Just make sure you do talk to Weiss about that."

"I'll run it by her."

Will's dorm wasn't too far away from theirs, probably because the girls of team RWBY were about the only individuals who could get through to him in the case of an emergency. The teachers at Beacon never did anything just because it was convenient.

Yang had never believed in knocking on doors. It helped that the people she would randomly barge in on never seemed to do anything nasty, either. She guessed she had to check in on her sister a lot more nowadays. She was growing up so fast.

So with that in mind, Yang eagerly barged into Will's room. Her appearance startled him, but it didn't cause him a heart attack anymore. And neither did he riddle the wall with bullets. That was a good sign, too.

He was improving!

"Hellooo!" Yang chirped. "Hey handsome, how's life?"

"Good, all things considered," the boy replied. He stood next to his bed, where an impressive array of weapons had been laid down. Ruby instantly caught sight of the various military gadgets and stood by his side in an instant, leaving behind a few scattered rose petals in her wake.

Yang took the normal route and walked the few steps instead. "So, what've you been up to?"

Will placed a rather high-tech-looking scabbard on his bed. It was tinted in the tasteful shade of black that had been patented by Onyx-grade equipment. New were the few scattered lights and smears of purple that decorated it.

The sheath looked familiar to Yang, buts she couldn't place it. Where had she seen such a thing before?

"Gearing up," he replied. He wore his Beacon outfit, but his right arm seemed decorated in fancy-looking inter-linked plates of armor. It looked nothing like the classic plates that Jaune or Cardin wore on their arms; this looked like it belonged in some sci-fi show. "I'm almost finished, actually."

"Gearing up?" Ruby said from his bed, fidgeting around with some sort of electronical bracelet. "What for?"

"A contact of mine discovered something very important today," Will explained. He looked far from healthy, but he also looked happy, so that was good enough. "Onyx landed one of their experimental aircraft carriers in a militarized zone, right near Atlas. They've got an army protecting it, but guess what?"

"What?" Ruby inquired.

He smiled. It looked off. Didn't quite meet his eyes. "No aircraft. We've got them."

Yang knew what this was about. He was talking about hitting a heavily-fortified Onyx facility to try and 'save' Ancilla. She wasn't sure how to feel about that. Sure, she wanted to believe him, and she liked to think she did, but…well, she would find out whether her trust was misplaced on not. "And you want us to go with you?" She asked, joining him next to that uncannily-familiar blade.

"Not this time," he replied. "At least, not on the ground. It's too dangerous."

"Not on the ground?" Ruby said. She was looking at them through odd-looking goggles, that seemed to spring out from a device attached to her head. "Where else are you going to fight?"

"Aircraft carrier, Ruby," Will replied, carefully taking the goggles from her head and folding them away in one gesture. "A flying aircraft carrier. If we really run into resistance, we might need your team, but I don't want to risk it. You four don't belong in a place like that."

Yang gave him a nudge. "Don't you know by now that you can sit back and let the girls handle it? Come on Grey, you're about to keen over."

But Will wouldn't have any of it. "Soon, Yang. When this is over, and I fulfilled my promise, I'll let you take care of everything."

Yang grinned. "Everything?"

He didn't see the trap. " _Everything."_

While Ruby let her professional eyes take in the large scabbard on his bed, Yang placed her right hand on Will's behind and squeezed, just a bit. Seeing him gasp in surprise was a reward in itself. "Oh, I'm keeping you to that, tough guy."

Will grimaced. "I ran right into that, didn't I?"

Yang then wrapped her arm around his waist and cuddled him. "Yup. Because I own you."

"Don't get too comfy," he then said, proving that he wasn't going to sit by and be submissive on his watch. "We tend to break free a lot."

"Don't worry, I'll keep you restrained."

It was that moment that Ruby choose to draw the blade residing within the sheath, releasing it completely.

"Don't-" Will started.

Half a second later, the deep-purple blade telescopically extended and gained two feet in blade.

"-cut yourself," the boy then finished, seemingly forgetting that Ruby swung around a scythe two times the size of her body on a daily basis.

That blade…now Yang knew where she recognized it from! Even though it was purple instead of blood-red, that ridiculous size -twice the length of the scabbard!- she would recognize anywhere.

"Where did you get that?"

Will blinked in surprise. "What?"

Gripped by emotions and memories, Yang grabbed a fistful of Will's clothes and pulled him away from the weapon. "That blade! Where did you get it!" She demanded.

Will's look of shock and surprise lasted a mere heartbeat before he recomposed himself. "It's an Onyx design," he calmly told her. His hand gently wrapped around hers and Yang caught a glimpse of her own reflection in the window. Her eyes were red, her hair a brighter shade of blonde than normal. "A Wraith Blade, meant to be used against the largest forms of Grimm."

Yang realized how much she had let herself go and quickly let Will go before she hurt him. "I'm sorry," she whispered, casting her eyes to the ground. Her anger, triggered so easily, instantly melted away, leaving behind only guilt and shame.

But Will didn't seem to care. He reached for her hand and guided it towards the pommel of the blade, which a distraught-looking Ruby still wielded. "Your mother wielded this same blade?" he then asked.

His sudden insight took Yang aback. "I -yes, she did. On the train, before the Breach. When that pintsized brat knocked me down, she…"

"Came out of nowhere to save you," Will finished. She had told him this before. "Yang, do you know what this means?"

"N-not really, no." She was still taken aback by that sudden impulse of anger and violence. Was that what her mother had felt, all those times her mood changed so suddenly and catastrophically? Was the same going to happen to her?

She didn't want that.

Will took the sword from Ruby and folded it away again. "Either she worked for Onyx, or she stole it from an Operative. Both im…implic…." He stopped to take a breath. "Both _mean_ that she had something to do with Onyx."

Alright, Yang had _not_ expected that. "What do you mean, something to do?"

"Raven Branwen…that was her full name, right?"

Yang nodded. She felt like, if she even breathed the wrong way, this moment of sudden inside into the fate of her mother would disappear.

"Raven…a blade like this, you don´t just _get._ She either killed someone for it, or she was given it."

"My mother wouldn't work for a group like Onyx." Yang declared. The suggestion that her mother might have been working for them was very bitter. "

"And you said you were sent an anonymous mail?" He then continued. "Someone who didn't want their identity known sent you a message on your Scroll, which said was still alive. Do you still have it?"

Yang hesitated, then reached for her Scroll. "Sure-"

"Send it to me."

She frowned. "Why?"

"That you didn't recognize the origins, doesn't mean I won't."

Yang gasped. "You're not saying _Onyx_ had that mail sent?"

"Who else would know that you thought your mother dead?"

"Yale," Ruby immediately said.

Both Yang as Will turned towards the little redhead. "Scuse me?" Yang said.

"He knew my mother when they were young. When I visited her grave, he was there too. He said he knew my mother for a long time, and that she was very dear to him. And a few years back, when Professor Adamant saved Alessa from the Onyx scientists experimenting with her, Yale made sure he wouldn't be tracked down."

"He knew Summer?" Yang said, surprised.

"Yup. And he has more sympathy to us than Onyx, or he wouldn't have covered for Professor Adamant. I don't know why Qrow didn't mention him…"

"Qrow Branwen?" Will said. "Your uncle? I thought he was a Huntsman."

Ruby nodded. "He is."

"Then you might want to ask him some questions. Hunters tend to know more than they reveal."

Yang was definitely going to do that, but before she did, she wanted to thank him. So she leant in and pressed her lips against his forehead. It definitely took him by surprise, but she didn't care. She was just happy to have him. "Thanks."

"What for?" he muttered with surprise as Yang placed both her arms around his waist and embraced him.

"For being you."

He ran a hand through her hair, carefully. He had finally learned what to do in these sorts of situations. Yang wasn't sure if it was Ancilla inside of his mind, guiding him along the right path, but if it was, she was grateful.

"But don't go on your big mission without telling me, okay? I want to wave you off."

Will audibly smiled. So endearing. "I promise." He waited a few moments, after which he added, "If you're going after your mother, do you want me to come?"

"I don't see why not. She needs to meet my boyfriend, doesn't she?"

"Hmm…that'll be a whole new challenge."

"You can take it. Probably." Oh, that was right. Speaking of meeting the family, there was someone he needed to be warned about. "About that…don't be surprised if uncle Qrow drops by and asks you some questions as well."

"Questions?" He gave her a look. "I don't think he can do a lot with classified information, but-"

"Not that kind of information," Yang interrupted him. She shot a glare at Ruby, who was trying to hide her snickering. Maybe she _was_ going to have a friendly chat with Weiss. " _Someone_ let it slip that you and I are seeing each other and now, he wants to have a talk with you."

"Huh…" He looked at Yang. He feared neither man nor Grimm, but the thought of having to meet the family seemed to have rattled him. "Ehm…uh-oh?"

Yang smiled and planted another kiss, this one on his cheek. "Just be honest and you'll be fine!"

That seemed to reassure him somewhat. At least, had it not been for Ruby, who continued on to blow her last chance at mercy.

"Don't worry. He doesn't bite. Not until his evening drink."

Will paled. "The man bites?"

Yang whirled around on her younger sister. "You little imp!" She growled. "I'm going to hold you down and tickle you until you wet your pants!"

"You'll never catch me! I'm too fast for you!"

And with that, Ruby disappeared in a blur of her Semblance, and the chase was on.

~0~

* * *

 _ **Foreign student dorms.**_

 _ **19:33**_

She couldn't get the thought out of her mind, no matter how much she told herself that she had more important matters to attend to. Keeping Adam and his White Fang animals on a leash. Maintaining her cover under the meddling nose of her old teammate, Matthew Adamant. Even keeping track of the progress in the Tournament required her full attention.,

But in spite of that, Cinder's mind kept traveling back to the place of interest that Salem had discovered. Because Onyx was her natural counterpart, as well as her greatest threat, she kept a very close eye on their movements.

And what she had found had nearly been sufficient enough for Cinder to radically shift her plans. A great source of power, unheard of in any human settlement. A soul that burned brighter than that of even the Four Seasons.

To Salem, the soul was tainted. Damaged goods in a metaphysical sense.

To Cinder, it was irresistible.

So lost in thoughts was she, that she almost failed to notice that Emerald had yet to enter their room. The girl was standing in the door-opening like a ditz, glaring at some unseen source of frustration in their room. How curious.

"Who the hell are you?" Emerald then growled, much to Cinder's surprise.

Surprise turned to amusement and a more basic, darker sense of desire. Somebody had snuck into their dorms. Now who would have the audacity to perform such an act? Which fool would be bold enough to infringe on their privacy?

Cinder calmly walked towards the open door of the room, feeling her power glow underneath her skin. This dorm, small and cramped as it was, could be considered her sanctuary. Somewhere she could escape the little dramas of the chattering teens around her and focus on her operation.

So any person brave and stupid enough to trespass on her territory…well, she might risk another comforting fire in her presence. After all, when her plan for Vale had been thoroughly set back by a bunch of children, she had been sentenced to even more weeks of pretending to be a student. Pretending to be a weak, petty, self-entitled brat.

Yes, a chance to avail her temper upon one of those meddlers was a welcome one indeed. Nobody would notice a missing student. Accidents happened, after all.

So when she glanced at the interior of her room, expecting to see some student scurrying around the desk or snooping around the beds, the last thing she had expected to see was some girl lying on a bed, as if she owned the room itself.

It was _her_ bed.

Not the bimbo, not the freak, not the brat and not the child. Just a girl she had never seen before…

No…not just a girl she had never seen before. Cinder recognized that slender frame, that asymmetrical haircut and sheer presence of arrogance. And as she did, as sense of unease and trepidation arose within her. Her typical response to someone arrogant enough to touch her property would have been violence.

Even worse if said someone were to be considered an undesirable or even a threat to her plans. Students reduced to charcoal were ever so hard to explain.

However, though this person was indeed an enemy of hers, Cinder stayed her hand. Instigating a fight of immense proportions was the last thing she could use right now.

"Hey!" Mercury called, instantly assuming a position that fully betrayed his own violent intentions. "Get your ass off of that bed, right now!"

The girl smirked and placed her arms behind her head in a relaxed manner.

It did not fool Cinder; knowing this girl, it could be safe to assume that she had hidden weapons behind her back.

"So quick on the verbal trigger," Operative Mantis spoke, smiling. It was a beautiful expression, sliding over her face like oil over water. Its inherent beauty lay in its false nature; it was a mask, a cruel game that served as a signal to the amusement that the girl seemed to pull from this situation. Even her voice seemed to be a trap. A lure that begged the listener to prove her wrong. To challenge her.

Cinder would not fall for it. After all, she often employed the exact same farce. "You children have abysmal manners," she spoke, subtly reminding the brash girl that _she_ was the senior here and that _she_ was in control.

"Do we?"

Cinder narrowed her eyes. "You are lying in my bed."

The girl made a gesture with her head, dismissing her concern. "And a comfy one at that. Are you surrounding yourself with luxury, Cinder?"

Cinder bristled. Who did this brat think she was, addressing her by her name like that? The arrogance, the callousness!

How dare she? A weapon like her, a mere _tool_ like her! Someone with no purpose in life would _never_ stand on equal footing with her!

Cinder longed to lash out and turn the conceit girl into a pile of ashes. But she controlled herself, refrained from causing a scene. Having the likes of Goodwitch or Ozpin recognize her would not do at all.

And, as much as she loathed to admit it, she would not be killing Mantis before someone important stumbled onto the scene, for all that haughtiness was earned through levels of bloodshed and cruelty that could even give the likes of Adam pause.

"I have no time nor patience for idle talk," she told the child soldier. Yes, refraining from violence would be the best course of action for now. If destroying one´s enemy was an art, and Cinder was its master, then this freak was it inventor. The slaughter she had been associated with, the destruction that this girl had heaped upon her foes. She must have taken a thousand lives in her life, if not many more.

Mantis sat upright, fixing Cinder with a look that seemed to mirror her own in intensity and malicious intent. "Oh, but there is much talk. And I have listened, for days and weeks and months. And I didn't like what I heard."

"No surprise there," Mercury spat out. He seemed to feel especially antagonistic towards these Onyx fiends. Not without reason, of course. He had still not managed to repair the damage that Greystone had done to his prosthetic. "The only things you like are killing and torturing children."

Mantis' glower turned into a glare. "Says the assassin shitface. How about you shut up before I replace your teeth with metal too?"

Mercury took a step forwards, but Cinder raised her hand and he immediately stopped. He glanced at her, as if begging her for permission to charge the lone Operative. And subsequently get himself killed.

Amusing it might be to watch the two of them fight, and educative too, Cinder had better things to address in this conversation than a childish need to belittle and insult. Seeing how people like Mantis were perpetually stuck in that blank section of childhood where norms and values were meaningless and cruelty could be deemed fun, Cinder would have to lift this conversation to its higher purpose.

"I suggest we bury the threats," she spoke. She allowed her power to briefly manifest itself and her tattoos, forced upon her body by Onyx so long ago, flared with light. "For now. Explain why you are still in our room." She paused, considered her priorities and then added, "And still in my bed."

Apparently, her remark was funny, because Mantis chuckled. "For now…hah. Well then…" She rose to her feet, lavishly stretching her arms and flexing her back. "I'm here because of two agreements. Mine with yours, and yours with mine."

In the underworld, leaving someone who so blatantly disrespected you alone was never a viable option. Cinder´s instincts had been created in constant fights for survival and opportunity and she knew when someone wished her ill. This girl, smug and self-assured as she might be, made no attempt to hide her disdain.

Of course, two could play that game.

"Agreements you say? Hmm…I would remember making an agreement with a runaway psycho with a fetish for sharp objects."

Mercury chuckled.

Emerald did not. The poor girl had never liked tensions like these.

Alice had been a professional killer before Cinder had been. But the lack of recent training and the sleep-deprivation had caught up to her, and the little runaway was unable to hide her anger at her remark.

Cinder smiled. Nobody was invincible.

"Well…this runaway psycho can always bring back your associate in little pieces."

In a way, Cinder like this tool more than she liked the other one. Greystone's superior thinking faculties had greatly deteriorated due to his unique relationship with the Catalyst. But this girl…she was witty. She could take and dish out.

A conversational game of chess.

"Roman is a trained Huntsman!" Emerald snapped. She just did not know when to hold her tongue.

Alice didn't even bother to aim her wit at the thief. "We learned how to tackle those when we were fourteen…"

The looks on the faces of Mercury and Emerald were priceless and Alice didn't miss them. She smirked, aware of the effect that she was completely creeping them out. Her smile broke however when she seemed to remember something.

"General Ironwood is giving people orders to arrest us on sight," she then melancholically said. "Students, mostly."

Such wonderful confusion. Such delicious frustration. The girl might like to think of herself as an enigma, but to _her_ , her soul was remarkably simple, as well as predictable. After all, one might think that young Mantis would be oh so eager for a chance to work off twelve years of anger, abuse and frustration on the privileged, naïve little students. That she didn't seem to be grasping that chance with both hands meant that she still had not accepted her lot in life.

Was she holding back as well, just like Greystone? "And?"

"And I never liked it when children thought they could take me."

Clearly, Cinder and her were alike in that part. Except that she perfectly understood that the lives she took were _hers_ to take, while the Operative seemed to feel guilty about it.

She wondered what she would end up with if she could just take that reluctance and _wrench_ it.

"So the way I see it, if I free this Torchwick loon, it'll hurt Onyx and Ironwood, and you will owe me."

She briefly toyed with the idea of owning Mantis. Being able to control Greystone, Blackwood and Mantis…she wouldn't even need Adam and his animals. She could topple Atlas with just the three of them.

A heartbeat later, she discarded that thought. Greystone already had a master in that blonde and his Catalyst, Blackwood was fascinated by Neo and Neo only and Mantis was a wild card.

Still, leverage was better than nothing.

And Cinder was a master in turning such tables around.

"I fail to see how you freeing my associate on Greystone's behalf will leave anyone owing anything,"

"One favor for another. He does it for you, I do it for him and you do it for me."

Mantis was fat from the average dimwitted student, it appeared. Very well; she could play along. "Very well. What would you have of us?"

There was a gleam in her eyes now. A shimmer, betraying her thoughts. A lust for violence, a craving for blood. The eagerness of one who could barely wait for their kill. "I know what Onyx did to you. I know that they took you from your team, when you were barely graduated. What was it, five years ago? Six? It doesn't matter. The woman who helped you escape. Casandra Thyrian."

Oh, that burning desire in the girl's eyes. If she wanted Cassandra that bad, only one thing could have happened between them. For that, Cinder could almost sympathize with the girl's plight.

Almost.

"What would you want with a defected Onyx scientist?" Cinder asked, feigning ignorance.

There was a gleam of insanity in Mantis' eyes. That little park of psycho, nestled within her soul. It was beautiful. "Five minutes alone."

A mere five minutes? Had Cinder been the victim of the transgression that her 'associate' had inflected, she would have taken five days. The impatience of youth…though she supposed that the age-difference between herself and the average teenager wasn't even that great.

Hmm…perhaps Mantis did not necessarily have to be an opponent. If she played this right, the girl might become even more loyal than Greystone. Certainly more loyal than Adam, who was more like a chained dog than a tool.

The prospect of vengeance was a _very_ alluring one indeed. "A valuable source of information and insight for the likes of Roman Torchwick doesn't seem like a trade."

"Once Ancilla is set loose, I'll personally help you tear the Themeluesi's Foundation apart, person by person."

It was that simple. As complex as these Operatives might be to the normal person, they were like an open book to her. So simple, so…honest. Give them what they want, and they will fight to the death for you.

Once more, a segment of the mind of a child, frozen in stagnation. Though, there was still one key to the puzzle she failed to understand and it was not merely the Operative's way of words that had set the Catalyst up like a monster, ready to be unleashed upon the world. "You seem to assume that Greystone and his Catalyst will be interested in more bloodshed, after she is set free."

The eagerness for mindless violence changed into something else, and this time, Cinder was not sure what it meant.

After a brief moment of hesitation, Mantis said, "Onyx won't just let us take one of their Catalysts. Freeing her will be hell. _Keeping_ her…no fortress in Remnant will be safe."

They would see about that, but later. Now…Cinder wondered why little Mantis would just go ahead and change the subject?

Mercury huffed. "And I'm just sitting here, wondering what use some _damsel_ will be to us in fighting Onyx."

Cinder was about to put her associate in his place when Alice beat her to it. It took her somewhat aback; normally, it was Mercury and Emerald putting people in their places.

"Compared to a pickpocket or a cutthroat? You two might as well not be there."

"Enough," Cinder spoke. She did not raise her voice; there was no need to. Mercury and Emerald were very useful, but she would not have them possess knowledge that they had no right to. Ancilla's potential was something that she had yet to assess for herself, no matter what Mantis already knew. "What is your offer?"

Alice stood. She understood that her prey was in sight. "I can bring you Torchwick," she said. "And help you rip Onyx apart. In return…"

Cinder smiled. In return, she would ascertain that William and Ancilla would be targeted by Onyx, driving them straight into her arms. Compared to that, losing Cassandra was as inconsequential as potentially losing the White Fang's support. "In return, I bring you Professor Thyrian on a silver platter."

Alice smiled as well, though there was nothing akin to humor or satisfaction in the gesture. More akin to a caricature perhaps, created by an animal with only the barest idea of what a human smile was meant to look like. "I can work with that," she all but purred.

In a way, it intrigued Cinder that none of her pawns were actually human, nor had any idea what it meant to be human. The Grimm, the White Fang and now the ex-Operatives. Now that she had a grip on all three of them, she could start tightening the metaphorical leash.

~0~

* * *

 ** _To: Professor Jet_**

 ** _Regarding: drug usage during sacking of Refuge_**

 _The recent assault on the heart of Vacuo was, as many of us suspected it would be, a great success. Leave it to Professor Greene to pick the successful fights. Though, I wouldn't refer to it as a fight. Unleashing three-thousand of our best soldiers on a collection of cartels, bribed Huntsmen and Huntresses, old vets and human traffickers? Normally, I'd call that a slaughter. Little Mantis made a name for herself too, down on the ground. Racked up a body count of at least four-hundred, during the first seven days alone. Thought you wanted to know that, seeing you personally pressured Sergeant Dusk into transferring her to Vacuo._

 _Still, what happened down there wasn't part of the plan. I don't know what on Remnant possessed you to amp up our boys and girls like that, but I can assure you that the cleanup afterwards was a real. Fucking. Chore. General Eventide was pissed off. I can assure you. I made sure of that. We're not a bunch of savages. Ripping enemy combatants apart is something we leave to the Sable and Saber departments, not to the normal soldiers. I still like our kids to be able to function after their duty to Onyx has ended, thank you very much._

 _After your little stunt with Blackwood, Magenta and Clearwalker, I thought you learned your lesson. Clearly not. The papers have been forwarded, the decision made. You have been reassigned to a listening outpost in Atlas, where you won't do any harm to our people anymore._

 _Be thankful. I could have ordered your execution within the hour. Do the smart thing, and don't ever show yourself again._

 _With kind regards,_

 _Field Commander W. Yale._

 _~0~_


	17. Chapter 17

**AN:** _so this is basically the single largest chapter I have ever written, so a word of warning. Still, I feel like I'm at least somewhat justified in writing a 30 000+ chapter, as I have literally been working towards this event since the very beginning of this story._

 _~0~_

* * *

 _ **Airspace above Mistral**_

 _ **2 years ago**_

 _Onyx had made a grave mistake. The war machine that Atlas possessed was greater than they had predicted. Their technology too advanced. As the children of the Foundation stopped the children of the Witch at every front and every turn, they forgot to account for the threat of human desperation and ambition._

 _Atlas and Mistral were on the verge of war. Even as the militarized Kingdom stoked the flames of war in the civil conflict within Vale, the senseless bloodshed between Luna and Arcadia that had claimed the lives of thousands of men, women and children in the first day of fighting alone, Atlas set its sights on Mistral._

 _Hastily, quietly. The world would not know of their intentions until it was far, far too late. Until Mistral either burned, or waved the Atlesian flag._

 _The madness had reached its climax. A crescendo of violence, lunacy and wasteful decisions. General Ulysses and the recently-promoted General Ironwood would cost the world hundreds of thousands of lives. And then, when the desperation and hate and sorrow were at their most intense, the beasts would come and claim those who were left._ She _would never allow them to recover from a conflict like that._

 _Atlas conquering Mistral with a brutal surprise attack would mean a second Great War. Onyx had failed to stop the first. It would go down in the Foundation's history as one of their greatest failures, rivalled by the Original Fall in scale._

 _But Operative Alan "Blackwood" hadn't been there in the Great War, and on his life there would not be a second one._

 _The Atlesian Military had managed to thwart Onyx's satellite view long enough to amass a fleet large enough to scorch Mistral's capital in one swift strike. It was too late to muster a large enough counterattack and most interceptors wouldn't reach the flagship quick enough._

 _But, if someone were to take care of the flagship…if the pride of Atlas were to fall before ever reaching its goal…then perhaps there might still be a chance to avert war._

 _A suicide mission, with low odds of success and even lower odds of survival._

 _Every single soldier under Onyx's command was disposable, and willing to die for the peace and sanity of Remnant._

 _Alan was no exception. As William was fighting knee-deep in corpses and mud between Arcadia and Luna, and Alice was halting a Grimm invasion at the borders of Vacuo as the result of the Sacking of Refuge, there were very few Operatives skilled or durable enough to send on such a mission._

 _As the world's greatest soldier, the responsibility was now his._

 _Blackwood embraced this role, without hesitation. This was his purpose, his destiny in life. Dying to preserve the world peace was a fate he felt almost underserving of. He who walked in the shadows so that others might live in the light…the many crimes he had committed for the greater good were weighing down on him, almost unbearably-so._

 _Attera was oddly accepting of that view of life. She had given up on living herself. Having failed in keeping his promise to her…he had no right to keep on living, either. But if he managed to survive this third and last confrontation with the greatest rival he had ever had, he would have fulfilled his destiny. And he could finally leave Onyx behind._

 _The Chimera stealth vessel was close now, close enough for Alan to risk a drop. He slammed his fist against the holographic display and the pilot opened the hatch for him, revealing the nightly skies of Mistral's airspace._

 _He let go of the supporting braces and allowed the wind to take him. Gravity lurched dangerously at his stomach as he tumbled into the night._

 _Alan saw the sky and the earth flashing in rapid succession in front of his faceplate. It reminded him of the nightly parasail drops that he had undertaken as a child during training. He had always enjoyed those, the sensation of escaping the confines of the ground. But this time, there was no parachute._

 _He forced his limbs open in a spread-eagle position and managed to gain control over his descend. Underneath him, the massive frame of General Ulysses' flagship was rapidly growing closer._

 _His helmet calculated the distance between him and the Atlesian airship. One hundred meters to go._

 _Alan placed his hand on his spear's handle, calming his rapidly-beating heart. Fifty meters to go._

 _Twenty._

 _Ten._

 _Alan drew his spear and slammed its head into the outer frame of the flagship's hull to brace himself. His body lurched to a sudden halt and his arms felt like they had almost torn out of their sockets. The spear's head tore a long trail across the airship's hull as his momentum drew the Operative further down, away from his initial landing spot._

 _Blackwood gritted his teeth and increased his grip on the weapon. He kicked against the ship's hull, attempting to kill his speed. He wasn't going to fail, not at a crucial moment like this._

 _He slid closer to the edge of the flagship, close enough that his legs were basically dangling in the air. However, the bladed edge of the spear caught on something that it didn't simply carve through, coming to a sudden halt._

 _Alan grimaced and slowly crawled back atop the outer hull of the airship, just like he had the last time he had caught up with his rival. So many operations had passed since then, but he still remembered the conversations he had had with the General. How he had come to question his role as a soldier, his position as a killer in Onyx's employment._

 _How he had managed to embrace his lot in life, at least temporarily. Those encounters with Ulysses were, ironically enough, some of the most insightful he had ever had in his entire life. But this had to end, today. One final confrontation. There would not be another._

 _Alan easily found his way inside of the massive vessel. It had to be at least half a kilometer long, large enough to carry every single technological marvel that Atlas had ever cooked up. It would most likely be filled to the brim with veteran soldiers, experts at fighting his kind._

 _But this time, Blackwood was ready._

" _There are but two places in Remnant where the Themeluesi could have hidden your physical form," Alan told his Catalyst as he advanced deeper within the airship. "Underwater…or in the air."_

"What difference does it make?"

" _Soon they will have nowhere to find," he replied. "And we can both go home."_

 _Attera did not respond to that attempt to inspire hope. She had made her decision, and nothing but actually finding and freeing her physical form would fill the despair that her state had left her in._

 _Blackwood pressed on, deeper into the ship. Within minutes after his infiltration, the technicians and soldiers aboard the ship located him._

 _He let them. He was not here as an assassin, like his previous encounters. Today, he would meet Ulysses as an equal. One final attempt to talk some sense into Ulysses, before the General committed himself to a path he would live to regret._

 _For some reason, Attera found that thought amusing._

"How do you plan to accomplish that?" _She asked him._

" _First, I will land this vessel. And then, if I cannot talk him out of his ways…I will end his life."_

"How hypocritical. Who else can find solace in murder, but a monster?"

 _Alan halted, reeling at the shame that the remark instilled within him. It was nothing new, but it still took him by surprise every time he felt how genuine her apathy towards the world had become._

 _He couldn't afford to dwell on it. Not when so many lives depended on his success._

 _The alarms started blaring, just like the last time. Red lights flared within the interior of the massive vessel as Alan made his way towards engineering. Ulysses would not face him anywhere but the bridge. He had the time to sabotage this vessel and bring it down._

 _However, just because the General was not willing to deal with him personally, did not mean that he was just going to let the Operative run amok. A full regiment of crack soldiers stood in his way, as well as the occasional Huntress and mechanized combat unit._

 _The Huntress proved to be exceptionally skillful, as well as exceptionally talkative. She had been waiting for him at Engineering, together with two full squads of Atlesian troopers._

 _Alan had approached her openly, without any intent of deception or deceit. She had appreciated that, but ultimately, she would not let him pass._

 _But the needs of the many outweighed the needs of the few, and conflict was the inevitable outcome._

 _Blackwood dodged and weaved through a salvo of gunfire and intercepted one of the soldiers before he could reload. Without breaking stride, he struck the man´s chest with an open palm strike, stopping his heart through his Aura, before sidestepping a counterattack from the Huntress._

 _As the first soldier clutched his chest and slumped to the ground, the Operative drew his sword from its sheath and cut down the other two soldiers standing near him. Then, as the Huntress threw herself at him to engage him in close quarters, he shifted his weight to his left leg and lashed out with the right one, stopping her dead in her tracks._

 _Still, she deflected his kick with her sword and hurried to press the attack. Alan returned in kind, dodging and redirecting her attacks until he found the hairsbreadth of an opening he needed._

 _The woman performed a diagonal slash aimed at his head, intent in cutting open his throat. But Alan was faster. As soon as she moved to strike, he sidestepped her attack and placed his hand on her neck. She stumbled, he whirled behind her, placed his arm around her neck and threw her to the ground. At the last possible moment, he forcefully drew his arm back. Her body fell to the right, her head jerked to the left._

 _*Crack*_

 _Alan softly exhaled as he lowered her body to the floor. Hunters always worked in pairs. Not always during the same mission, but they never strayed too far away from each other. Whoever hers was, he had made a mortal enemy out of them._

 _They could pick a number._

 _With the Huntress down, the rest of the soldiers were quick to follow. Without mercy, without pause, Alan killed them all. He moved with speed and reflexes they couldn't follow, with force and strength that their bodies couldn't handle. He snapped limbs and bones, cut through armor with his bladed weapons and shot them with their own weapons. Within half a minute, the room had been cleared, and the Operative stood alone among the dead._

 _Attera called it the only way he could tolerate the world._

 _Alan shook the blood from his swords and completed his task. The machines that Atlas built were impressive, but not very sturdy. They came apart when faced with overwhelming force, just like their armies did. Before soon, the Engineering room was filled with smoke and explosions._

 _More alarms echoed through the ship, fainter this time. Not even a minute later, someone over the intercom ordered all personnel to abandon the ship._

" _And that's that," Blackwood whispered. He could feel the ship tilting as gravity overcame what little propulsion it had left._

 _It surprised him that Ulysses was unwilling to throw his soldiers into the grinder. There were hundreds of men and women aboard this ship, and they would certainly be enough to keep him pinned down until the ship crashed. But the General was unwilling to waste lives to stop him._

 _Impressive._

 _Alan understood the deeper meaning behind the sentiment, however. And as the last message came through the speakers, he knew that he was right._

" _I will be waiting for you on the bridge, young Operative."_

 _Ulysses was intent on going down with the ship, risking his life for one last confrontation. Alan was almost moved by the gesture. The dire circumstances however, deadened that effect._

 _Blackwood calmly made his way towards the bridge, hoping that wherever he was, General Ironwood would understand._

 _~0~_

* * *

 **Beacon Academy**

 **Headmaster's office**

 **09** **:52**

"It's not easy to understand."

"Then tell me. It is important that I do."

Frost Schnee turned towards the window again, almost subconsciously reaching for the necktie of the Beacon uniform. It felt so uncomfortable to be walking around in civilian garbs. So exposed.

There were people walking around the campus again. Students from all nationalities, heading towards the airstrip so that they could be ferried towards the Amity Colosseum. They looked happy. Peaceful.

"The Schnee Dust Company loves order," he eventually replied. "But they weren't always orderly. Seventeen years back, sixteen tops, the Schnee family found themselves in sort of…struggle…for power. "

"A rival company?" The Headmaster mused. For someone who was in the presence of what was basically a war criminal, he held himself remarkably calm.

Frost scoffed and turned back to face the Headmaster. "At that point, all rivals had been weeded out. No, this fight came from within."

"The next heir."

"The old man wanted one of his children in charge. Other family members didn't agree, and pressed their offspring to take over. Father Schnee didn't want to deal with potential candidates ruining his legacy."

Ozpin nodded. "His own children were meant to take over."

" _Child,_ Ozpin. He had been grooming Winter for a while when Weiss was born. Assurance, you see? In case something were to…happen to the first one. After all, each Schnee was only allowed two kids."

"I doubt that Jacque saw his children like that."

Frost felt the corners of his mouth curl upwards in a mocking smirk. "But something went wrong, and soon, mother Schnee was pregnant again."

At this, even the Headmaster could not suppress his surprise. Or perhaps he did not bother to, to show that he was earnest. "A third child?"

"Correct. Now this…this wasn't meant to happen. So, when Winter's showed interest towards the military, and with Weiss showing good promise, they made _her_ the next Heiress. Unfortunately, the third child was a _boy…_ and mister Schnee really wanted to keep Weiss the Heiress. He wasn't supposed to make a third. It would cost him his reputation, breaking political bonds like that. So, they secretly passed along the third child to one of their trusted relatives, who swore to keep the secret. The little brother became a little nephew, and no questions were asked. "

The Headmaster sighed and lowered his head. "All this secrecy…what was the point?"

"Politics. Within the Schnee family, there was much dissidence-" Frost felt his voice trail off into a guttural, growling sound and quickly cut himself off. He scraped his throat and silently cursed Onyx's surgery unit. Twenty years nothing; his larynx implants were starting to fail after ten already. "Much dissidence."

Ozpin shook his head, unbelieving. "I see. And what happened to this third child?"

Frost kept his features perfectly devoid of emotion as he replied. "After a few years, despite all the promises, it was elected as one of the candidates for the next heir of the Schnee Dust Company, of course. Everybody wants a taste of power."

A sigh. "And then the trouble started anew."

Sharp man. "The adoption parents broke the agreement, and wanted to have their new 'son' become the Heir. The main family branch did _not_ like this. So when mister Schnee caught wind of a terrorist plot to abduct his daughter for ransom, 'bout ten years ago, he came up with a plan."

"The White Fang? Even then?"

Frost felt a chill run down his spine even at the mentioning of their name. Involuntary reflexes, beyond his control. "The reformations five years back were only the last of the changes that had to be pushed through. Just like the SDC, the Fang was rotten to their core for far longer than people thought."

"And what was this plan of mister Schnee?"

Frost recalled the brief flare of panic as his door broke open, then nothing. At least, for a while. "It was unfortunate that the White Fang managed to get ahold of the coordinates and security details of the safe house the third child was residing in... but at least, Weiss Schnee was safe." He paused. "And just like that, all efforts to have someone else become the heir ceased, and Weiss became the sole Heiress of the SDC. Nobody knew a thing, and yet they all did."

Ozpin slowly inhaled and leant forwards in his chair, glancing at Frost with an inscrutable expression. Reading people had never been his thing. "History teaches us that the Company did everything in its power to get Frost Schnee back from the White Fang. His death was the unfortunate byproduct of a failed assault on an empty base."

"History," Frost quietly replied, "is written by the victors, and often by liars. The Company doesn't negotiate with terrorists. So, when mister Schnee ordered his men to strike a base which he knew was already empty, flying in the face of all the threats that had been issued…"

"So he knew what would happen?" Ozpin said. "And the White Fang retaliated, angry and upset at the lack of voice given to their demands." He sighed again, and stood. "I remember the outrage when the abductors verified the death of the child. What they sent the father and mother…"

Frost smirked, and flexed his remaining hand, where the cybernetics were starting to itch. "A small box, containing a little finger. One of several they had at their disposal, in fact."

"Frost…what you are saying, goes directly against everything that history taught us. It involves the SDC with corruption, attempted murder and deceit."

The Onyx soldier shrugged. "And yet here I am. Without birth certificates, of course. The original ones were…hidden from the public eye."

There was no denying it. When the media scandal had begun, all kinds of documents had been leaked across the world. And all of them were genuine. Ozpin had to know that.

The Headmaster fixed him with a glance, but there was no animosity in it. Not even distrust. No pity, either. When they said that Ozpin knew exactly how to deal with everyone he was involved with, they didn't exaggerate. "How did you even survive? And how did Onyx get a hold of you?"

"The Onyx Foundation is always on the lookout for those Remnant is about to consume. The wounded, the sick, the lost. We are accused of having been kidnapped from our homes, our families, when in fact, we are always rescued from the brink of death. Onyx doesn't do kidnap, Ozpin."

"So they saved you from certain death at the hands of the White Fang…but did they truly safe you?"

Frost glanced at his glove, which concealed his last, disfigured hand. "Not all of me."

"My apologies, the question was posed too crude. Are you happy? Content with your life?"

Frost looked the Headmaster in his eyes. "Would you be?"

Slowly, Ozpin shook his head. "I doubt anyone could find solace in the embrace of an organization that teaches a mandate of violence and death. I cannot begin to understand what you have been through…and I will not pretend I can. The Company has failed you, but your family hasn't yet. Your sisters are both alive, and though Winter lacks the finesse to express it, both of them are elated to see your continued survival. The little accident inside our brig should have been sufficient to prove that."

Family had become a foreign concept. Tempting, which was exactly why he stayed far away from it. "It is all too easy to promise a wounded child vengeance against those who harmed it. History taught my death. Now, it preaches my crimes against mankind. Homecoming would mean my end."

Now there was a hint of sympathy within the old teacher's eyes. "Even now?" He quietly asked.

"Especially now. The SDC and Onyx don't exactly have the best of relations, and I ran too many missions to further grind them in the ground. Add to that General Ironwood's little insecurity problem…they would have the gallows oiled and polished within the hour." The thought of a public execution amused him. Almost reassuringly-so. It would certainly fall within his own ideas of retiring.

"That is not going to happen," the Headmaster declared.

"I'm not here to discuss my terms of employment," Frost then replied. "And I didn't tell you this to breed misguided-sympathy. If you're going to deal with Ironwood, who offers one hand and arms the other, and Schnee, who would rather bury his daughters than see his own power slip away, you should know the truth."

The door behind them opened, and someone entered. Frost slowly inhaled, smelling the faint whiff of perfume.

A woman.

The Headmaster didn't as much as blink as he said, "I hope you don't mind our people verifying this story. Technically, Miss Goodwitch over here is meant to apprehend you."

Frost held no illusions. He couldn't have taken on both a Huntress and Ozpin at once even _before_ he had taken a chainsaw to his shoulder. Now? He doubted he was able to resist even a single Huntress. It would get better though.

"Verify all you want," Frost replied. "Just don't be surprised when you discover something you would rather keep… _buried_ underneath your feet."

Ozpin merely sighed and closed his eyes, but if the way Goodwitch suddenly gasped was any indication, they hadn't expected him to know. Always the same story. They seemed to have forgotten that Onyx' strength didn't lie in its military, but in its ability to pluck information seemingly out of thin air. They knew everything.

~0~

* * *

 **Beacon Academy**

 **Medical Bay**

The Doubles round had already begun. Outside, two members of team JNPR were squaring off against some kids whose names Will hadn't bothered to learn. A friendly duel, without wounds, without bloodshed. It might have been relaxing to watch. Sit alongside Yang and groan at stupid decisions, laugh at the antics of students who only knew how to fight mock duels. Make up for lost time and have fun.

It didn't work like that.

The doctors called it an "acute psychotic episode". Whatever that meant. It had happened last night. At the time, he had been convinced that there were things hiding in his room, and he had been convinced that they were attacking him in his sleep. Right after Ancilla's nightmare, he had woken up to find them _leering_ at him.

In hindsight, it was very much unlike him to break down his room in a panic attack. Shouting profanities at shadows. Screaming at things that weren't there.

Somehow, professor Ozpin hadn't been upset with him. When the violence started, and people had woken up, the Headmaster had personally come down to see what was wrong. In the middle of the night, no less. His presence had confused him. It had also calmed him down somewhat. Enough for Yang to pick up the pieces and get him to calm down.

That was the one thing Will hated about this. He didn't want others to see him like this. Least of all Yang. Upon his transfer to a private wing of the medical bay, he had asked for no visitors and the Headmaster had understood.

"Hello," said the woman sitting in front of him. He took in her appearance in a flash. Grey hair, tied in a ponytail. No visible weapons, no signs of combat experience. Only a pencil in her breast pocket. "My name is Eve van Wit-"

He didn't trust her.

"-but you may address me in whatever manner you find comfortable."

Professor Adamant was sitting a few feet away, writing things down on a file of paper. "Miss van Wit is here to help us build our case," he said. "If you want to get the support you need to organize an assault on an Onyx base, you will need all the help you can get. You can't do that with an official diagnose describing your brain damage."

Will nodded, but he failed to understand why this was relevant.

"So that's why she's here. If an official psychiatrist can confirm that you are, in fact, in the situation we think you are, not even Professor Goodwitch can deny it. Of course, you will have to play along."

Again, he nodded.

Adamant smiled. "Good! Eve, if you're ready?"

The woman nodded. "Yes…I would like to ask you a few questions, mister…?"

Will politely waited for her to finish her sentence.

Miss van Wit blinked, then reached for the pencil in her breast pocket. Will tensed up, ready to defend himself, but the woman merely scribbled down something on a piece of paper. "Ehm…I meant for you to finish my sentence by telling me your name. Could you, please?"

Oh. "Greystone, Operative. Third generation Special Forces Operative, seventh division." He halted, remembering what else was important to tell her. "William," he then added, satisfied that the name Yang had given him would sound official enough.

"William then…do you mind if I call you by your name?"

He felt a stab of annoyance. Yes, actually, he _did_ mind-

Ancilla gave him a small nudge, a mental push towards the other spectrum. _Work along,_ she seemed to say.

"No, ma'am."

"Good, good. Let us see…I am going to construct a general profile of your personality, then-"

Adamant snickered. "Oh, that'll be good."

Miss van Wit shot the Professor a glare that could have stopped a bullet in its tracks. The sudden hostility in her eyes took Will aback as well, and it wasn't even directed at him.

Professor Adamant proved himself a wise man and fell quiet.

"A general profile of your personality. After that, I want to rule out the idea that you might have multiple personality disorder by asking you things that you cannot adequately answer with your current knowledge. If you deem something too private to share, just give the word."

Will glanced at her. "What word?"

"Oh, a general heads-up will do. I will move on to a different subject if you don't want to talk about something. Is that alright with you?"

He nodded, seeing no reason to withhold important information from her. This was all still new to him; these people were getting ready for a psycho…psych…what was the word again?

 _Mental._

A mental screening, but he still felt confused.

Ancilla did her best to reassure him. She was sharper than he was, now. ' _Just be honest.'_

Honesty…he liked that.

He looked at his right hand, where he had scribbled something on his palm. A reminder to himself, that someone very important had contacted him. A reminder that this would be the day.

"Yes ma'am," he slowly said.

"Splendid. I would like to begin with your youth. Do you remember your life, before Onyx took you in? Your time as a child, perhaps?"

Will frowned, struggling to remember. There were gaps in his brain. Holes in his mind. Vague memories of figures important to him. Figures who still held importance to normal people. One who was important to Yang, one who was important to Weiss. A mother-figure, a father-figure.

He failed to remember either of them.

Shouldn't he feel bad about that?

"No ma'am," he eventually replied.

Miss van Wit wrote something down and then nodded. 'That is a shame…does it bother you?"

"I know it should."

"But does it?"

Will hesitated. "I think so."

"But you are unsure?"

"Yes."

"Hmm…I see. You do remember your time with Onyx, then? The training?"

That, he did. Large sections of it at least. The bite of the stun baton, the burning of his muscles. The tears, the screaming, the crying.

Embarrassment.

"They took you away from your home in the middle of a Grimm attack, if I understand it correctly. Did you have friends there? Other family members?"

Again, he hesitated. Ancilla did remember, as she had asked him before, several times. By her hand he went, trusting her judgement. "I didn't have friends."

"Why not?"

Was that right? Was that the reason? "Because I was different." The conditioning took over, and his thought processes slipped away from Ancilla's grasp, falling back into the carefully-crafted pattern that Onyx had forged. "The world doesn't accept 'different'. Man's nature is to _kill_ that which he sees as different."

Will regretted those words the moment he spoke them. Civilians didn't know how Remnant worked.

However, Miss van Wit surprised him. "I can definitely see why you think that. Even then, being different was a bad thing for you?"

Not necessarily. "I never needed friends. I had an older sibling…not related by blood. The girl next door. She liked me and I liked her."

"You saw her as a sister?"

"Yes. She protected me when I couldn't protect myself."

"Do you know what happened to her?"

He looked away. Jas…Jasmine Seraphim was a teacher here at Beacon now. She had grown up thinking that Will was dead, and that Operative Greystone was responsible for killing her lover, while in reality, it had been a defected Onyx scientist who committed the crime. He hadn't talked to her since the whistleblowing of several Onyx members via the media.

She probably still hated him.

He didn't feel like talking anymore. "She's alive," he quietly said. "Different subject. Please."

"Of course."

It went on like that. Miss van Wit would ask him about his time with Onyx, the things that were done to him, the things that he had done to others. But she wasn't satisfied with facts. Facts didn't seem to interest her. She wanted to know how he felt about it. She wanted to know his _feelings._ It was difficult and confusing, because he had to throw his entire way of thinking around.

After half an hour, they reached the subject that was the most important. The Catalyst program. One of the few events in his life he remembered with vivid clarity. Putting it into words though…proved to be a challenge.

Eve van Wit told him that he could make an image to describe how he felt, and other forms of such nonsense, but that only confused him more. After all, how could an image hold emotions? Everybody could make an image. Emotions were personal. That was the way it was.

He lost his line of thinking three times during the interrogation, during which both Ancilla as Miss van Wit had to remind him what they were talking about.

His words, he had even more trouble with. It was so mundane, so utterly idiotic, but he seemed to have forgotten a small part of his vocabulary. Words that had fallen out of his head. Thy just didn't come to him anymore and it really frustrated him.

He couldn't cope with frustration well. With Onyx, he had always been told to bottle it up, and vent whatever negative feelings he had on his enemies.

And then, just like that, the subject was changed, and Will honestly could not tell where any significant change had taken place. Now the woman was asking him questions that were personal _and_ odd. Questions he had no idea how to answer.

"How do you normally cope with dangerous situations?" Asked Miss van Wit. "Are you prone to unhealthy behaviors?"

"What sort of dangerous situations?"

"The kind that causes stress, duress or perhaps bodily harm."

Will deliberately stared at the ground as he gave his reply. "Most of the times, dangerous situations make me feel…I…not relaxed, but…" he trailed off as something triggered his instincts, almost immediately forcing him to put a halt to what he was doing.

There was something in the air…something odd. Different. It drowned out his senses, took priority over the conversation. It was…was it Aura?

He knew that radiance…it was just like in the North, but this was a different one.

"Fall…"

"William?"

Will was confused. His combat instincts flared and he immediately started scanning his surroundings, his eyes darting around to search for hidden weapons he _knew_ weren't there. "Is there someone here with us?" He asked.

"I-"

Not waiting for an answer, the Operative continued. "There's someone at Beacon…someone…no, wait, that's not…it's not right…"

"Will?"

He stared at the floor, absolutely convinced that there was something wrong. Somehow, he felt…what, failure? Disappointment? It was odd…it was…

…odd.

No, that didn't sound right. He… _odd_.

The word was right there, why couldn't he name it?

He felt as if something was lost, like he had been robbed of something really important.

The next moment, it was gone, and he glanced up at Miss van Wit and Professor Adamant, surprised to see them staring at him. "I'm sorry, what?"

The two of them exchanged an uneasy look. "A…a dangerous situation. Do you think you are prone to self-destructive behavior?"

She had no idea. "Yes."

If she was surprised to hear that, she didn't show it. "Yes...you had developed a massive guilt complex due to the death of your partner. Headmaster Ozpin informed me to the best of his capabilities and I won't subject you to more pressure by asking you to repeat the details…"

For that, Will was very grateful.

"…but to verify that your partner is, indeed, alive and presently with you, I need to ask some questions that might be somewhat intrusive. With your permission?"

"Proceed," he told her.

She nodded. "Alright…these questions are meant for Ancilla. Do you think you can answer for her sake?"

"Of course."

"Good. When you feel sad or down, do you prefer the company of other people?"

He kept his promise, merely relaying Ancilla's words to the psychiatrist. "Only those she cares about."

Miss van Wit quickly wrote the answer down. "How do you cope with stress?"

A faint smile on his side. "Not well."

"Time pressure?"

"It makes math difficult."

"I can relate…how do you show your affection for others?"

Ah…uneasiness. It amused him somewhat. He knew how she liked the display her affection, because she was the reason he felt like randomly reaching out and touching people like Weiss and Blake. He never did, of course. "She likes hugging people," he softly said. "Being held in an embrace makes you feel all…warm and…fuzzy inside. It soothes fear and sorrow and…it makes her feel loved. Safe." Huh…saying it out loud like that was different from experiencing it himself.

"An apt description…Ancilla, could you perhaps tell me how you went along with your father?"

Difficult. Her father and mother were dead. Killed by the Grimm, fifteen months after she had been spirited away from her home. The entire city had been wiped out. Oh, how he had made those creatures bleed. How he had made them suffer.

It hadn't changed a damn thing, though.

Somehow, Ancilla didn't seem to be bothered the question. As a civilian, she knew how to grieve…

So he relayed her words, wondering if he could have mustered the same grace. "She went along well. More than well, actually. She looked up to her father, ever since she was young. He always asked how school went…fixed things that were broken…helped her mother cook." Were those things that fathers did? It didn't sound like something that Weiss' father would do. How did Ruby and Yang's father fit into the picture? He wanted to know.

"He was protective though. A bit too much. He became worried when she didn't get home in time…rarely happened. Old-fashioned in that regard."

The woman glanced at him with an inscrutable expression. After that, she asked only a few more, seemingly-irrelevant questions. What Ancilla had learned at school, what she wanted to become later, whether she remembered having friends before Onyx had come and stolen her life.

Eventually, Professor Adamant finished what he was doing too. "All done! Miss van Wit, I am certain you have some interesting things to summarize and work out! Unfortunately, it is medicine time."

The Psychiatrist shot the Adamant a glare again, but the Professor merely donned a pair of sunglasses and then added, "I am afraid your area of expertise doesn't quite cover this zone. I will have to ask you to leave us alone for a few minutes."

Vsn Wit nodded. "Before I leave, could I see your medical license?"

"I ah…I'm not actually that kind of doctor. Don't worry; young William and I have been cooking this batch up ourselves. We are _very_ lucky that his Semblance works the way it does."

Miss van Wit started protesting. "Professor, with all due respect, I cannot let you prescribe medicine without actual proof of your proficiency-"

"Hmm, yes, but Eve, we don't have a lot of time, and medical school takes quite some time, even for me. Allow me to explain to you the finer details as to why you really need to leave the room, even for a little bit…"

Will watched with odd indifference as Professor Adamant repeated the word ´classified´ at least half a dozen times in his explanation. It didn't make a lot of sense to him why he didn't bother to listen closer to the reasoning of the man he was practically giving custody over his welfare.

"Oh fine," said Miss van Wit. "I will give you your half hour alone. However, if William's situation worsens, rest assured that I will do everything in my power to make sure _yours_ does as well. Do we understand each other?"

Even in the face of a well-disguised threat to his life, the Adamant remained steadfast. "Most certainly! I will see you soon. Give my regards to the Headmaster!"

Will caught the woman rolling with her eyes before she excused herself and left the room, leaving him alone with a self-proclaimed madman.

It was at this point that he realized how much he had been depending on Miss van Wit to keep him safe. Hanging around with team RWBY so much made him depend on women for his own wellbeing. Even now, he was eternally glad to have Ancilla's guidance. He trusted Professor Adamant, but he also didn't trust him.

"Now then! All alone at last. So, tell me. You're in the late phase of the development of the dementia, but in the early phase of its symptoms. You obviously still function on your own and you obviously still possess…well, _most_ cognitive functions. Tell me, do you feel like it has worsened lately?"

Will blinked a few times, confused. Wasn't he here because it already _had_ worsened? "Apart from last night?"

"Yes. Before it, after it, everything relevant."

"Sometimes I forget how to call things by their name. I recognize it, but I can't remember the words I need."

"Yes…and if we don't solve this situation of yours soon, rare will become common, common will become often and then often will become always. At this point-"

"I get it," Will said, irritated. "It won't come to that."

"I do hope so. I know you're preparing something big, which is where I come in. If I'm right -and I'm not often wrong- this'll help you cling to reality a bit longer when the auditory and visual hallucinations kick in again."

Will glanced at the little bottle of pills. Oddly enough, he was reminded of the sleeping pills Ancilla sometimes took when she couldn't sleep. "And the other things?"

The Adamant took out a little pouch and opened it. Inside, neatly arrayed with straps along the inner walls, were several syringes. "Yes, these ones. I really recommend against getting yourself in a situation where you will need them, but should you stub your toe or cut yourself on a piece of paper…"

Will carefully reached out and took the pouch. "Thanks."

"No problem. At this point, Glynda can kiss being right goodbye!"

Will didn't know what the teacher meant, and neither did he care. It was time to meet up with Cinder and finish this. Whoever she worked with, he would take all the help he could get. While he was still in the sound mental state to _recognize_ help.

~0~

* * *

The flowers cultivated and kept in Beacon's garden were among the rarer kinds in Vale. Their petals were beautiful, their scents were soothing and even their textures were soft to the touch. A small section of paradise, symbolic to the peace that the people in Vale thought they were enjoying.

Cinder Fall gently reached out for the closest one, remembering how much she used to enjoy them during her stay here. An eternity ago, during a different life. There truly had been peace, a tranquility that even the occasional packs of Grimm hadn't been able to break. She had been part of the most skilled team of their year. Amber, Matthew, her and Terra. They had been inseparable, unbeatable.

Terra was dead now. Amber might soon follow. Matthew was a shadow of his former self and she was plotting the destruction of the school that had forged her first and most sincere friendship.

As she caressed the flower, the destructive power that the tattoos carried with them seemed to ripple underneath her skin, and a single and casual thought was enough to reduce the blossom to ashes.

How many years had it been? How many years since the Shadows of the Night had spirited her away from her team, from the world? It had happened a year after their graduation, too. One beautiful year of working as an actual team of Huntresses and one Huntsman, fighting evil and righting wrongs. And then the ancient conspiracy that called itself Onyx had made her disappear from Remnant's surface, to a place where no light could be found.

Cinder clenched her fists. The memories of the torture and the abuse fueled her powers, increased her bloodlust. But they also made her feel weak, guilty. She didn't normally feel that way. Such emotions were a burden, a weakness, and she was _not_ weak.

She was _far_ from weak. Ironically, the reason that she was as powerful as she was the Onyx Foundation. Faintly, it bothered her that the power came with the imposed disfiguring of her body, the forced marring of her supple skin, but those feelings failed to compare to the satisfaction of feeling her enemies wither away underneath her touch.

Onyx had granted her the power to destroy them. Opting not to use those powers was a fool's errand.

Emerald stood in the opening of the hallway that led to the garden, keeping watch for intruders. "Are you sure they got your message?"

Cinder did not reply. The scope of this operation -the true nature of the work she was doing- was something she had not revealed to her underlings. They were faintly aware of the fact that they were in over their heads, but they had no idea.

Even _she_ did not know the true history between the Themeluesi and Salem. The ancient, blood-soaked conflict between the two most powerful individuals in Remnant. She knew of several specific details, or a handful of vague facts. A feud between a man and a Goddess. The very first clash between the supposed aspects of mankind. Bravery, hope, fierce determination. The Goddess had set up the man's army against themselves, condemning the warriors of mankind to succumb to their deepest, darkest desires, easily overcoming the supposed friendship that held the army together.

And then the Goddess had forced the man to watch his army tear itself apart, before cursing him to wallow an eternity in the shadows. His determination had been crushed, his hope burned.

It was a vague story, and Cinder knew only its outline as one of the few origin stories. Still, it failed to justify what Onyx had done to her. What they were _still_ doing to others.

"They'll come," Mercury replied. He was sitting on the ground, trying to complete the reparations that he had been working on for days now. "But only when you least expect it. They're sneaky dogs."

Sneaky dogs or not, Cinder needed them. Salem was a kind mistress to those who served her well, but she was always on the lookout for powerful servants. Warriors or civilians, men or women, whose raw potential could tip the scale of the invisible war that was tearing Remnant apart. It had allowed the enigmatic entity to find the Fall Maiden.

And it had allowed her to find Ancilla. Even in the pitiful state that she was chained in, her soul shined brighter than even Amber's had. It pained the creatures of Grimm so much, to bear witness to such bright souls. The pain drove them to frenzy. And just like them, Salem could see every single soul bright enough to catch her attention.

Nobody could hide from her, except for those who shrouded themselves in the shadows.

And it was Cinder's task to drag them into the light.

She smiled. There was the faintest tap of metal striking rock, fabric brushing past the rocks. They had visitors.

A heartbeat later, young Greystone made his presence known. Someone grabbed Emerald by the back of her hair and painfully yanked her head back, jerking her off her feet and dragging her out of the way of the hall.

The poor girl cried out in alarm and immediately reached for her weapons with one hand, clawing at the iron clasp that was holding her with the other. Cinder let it happen. Emerald really should have spotted him sooner.

"Hey!" Mercury yelled and jumped to his feet, but by the time he had readied himself for a fight, Emerald's assailant had already thrown her aside and released her. She crashed against the wall and slumped to the ground, furious and embarrassed.

"What the fuck!" Emerald yelled, jumping to her feet and aiming a weapon at the silent young man who had sent the clear signal that, suffering from a mental disease or not, he was still a killer. "You freak!"

The child soldier fixed the girl with a predatory smirk that filled Cinder with approval. "You're in my way," he informed the thief.

Before Mercury could shoot back a supply, little Mantis placed a hand on his shoulder and gently brushed past him. "Careful," she all but whispered to him. "You might hurt yourself."

"Welcome back, William," Cinder spoke. There was no fear with her, nor any form of trepidation. She was herself, unbothered and completely in control. "I would prefer you not damage my subordinates."

"You're the one who stirred up things that should have been kept buried," Mantis remarked. Garbed in the Beacon uniform, she looked simple and insignificant. However, she carried a large bag over her shoulder, and two impressive-looking katanas were fixed to her back. "It's called reaping what you sow."

Cinder was very aware of the meaning of that statement.

"You two aren't even dressed for the occasion yet!" Said Mercury. "You do realize we're going to be hitting a major Onyx base, right?"

"We're not leaving yet," Will replied. Apart from his earlier…outburst…he looked rather calm and composed for an operation this significant to him. Cinder wondered what turmoil was going on inside of that dementia-riddled mind of his. "Transport will pick you up first, on the landing zone. It'll pick Alice and me up next, in front of the main entrance. From there, we will be moving towards Atlas."

"Great," Mercury snarked. "I love flying with Onyx air services. Will there be airmiles?"

Cinder narrowed her eyes, eying Greystone for anything that might betray his motives. Of course he would not let her anywhere near Ancilla. Along the way, there would be treachery. She just needed to anticipate it and strike accordingly. He would not be leaving with the Catalyst, but he thought the same thing about her in return.

This would prove to be a very interesting experience.

"Any questions?" The Operative then said. Before anyone could actually ask said questions, he added, "Good. Transport will pick you up in twenty. Don't start a fight."

The audacity of the boy. He thought, merely because this could be deemed a military action, he had the right to tell her what to do?

No matter. Once she had taken Ancilla, there would be enough begging from his side.

"Very well," Cinder replied, playing along. "I hope your pilot is a trustworthy one."

Alice snickered. Upon seeing the surprised and annoyed faces from Emerald and Mercury, she shrugged. 'Inside joke."

Cinder rolled with her eyes. "But of course…I suggest you do move with haste. I do not like being kept waiting."

"No promises," Alice replied. She looked better than before, like she had actually gotten some sleep this time around. She would be a frustrating thorn in Cinder's side. Once victory was in sight, the girl would be the first to go. Punishment for her cocky, arrogant demeanor, vengeance for placing Cinder on the defensive.

Hmm…after this day, nothing would be the same. Cinder could feel her spine tingle with giddy anticipation at what she could do with a girl like Ancilla. She did wonder what would lie in wait of them. The Onyx Foundation was not going to give up their Catalyst easy.

Well, that was what the two Operatives were for. Once the fire started, they would be in the middle of it.

And neither would be fast or strong enough to overcome it on their own.

Cinder smiled. Victory was guaranteed.

~0~

* * *

"That was kickass!" Ruby enthusiastically shouted as team RWBY made their way off the airship and back towards the familiar set of towers and buildings that made up Beacon Academy. "I didn't know Jaune and Pyrrha could work so well together!"

"They sure did surprise me," Weiss replied. "Of course, their opponents were hardly the most elegant sort."

Yang merely laughed off the stealth insult. "I doubt anyone can get away with elegance on the battlefield, princess."

Weiss huffed, insulted. "Oh please. Not everybody pummels their way to victory, Yang. A certain finesse is required, for every Huntress to be!"

"Goes that explains why Jaune doesn't have finesse."

"Sure," Blake remarked. " _That_ explains it…"

Yang´s Scroll buzzed as it registered a new message and she quickly reached for it.

"Well, if you and Yang have to fight a battle like that, there will be nothing to worry about," Ruby said.

"You are implying that there _is_ a reason to worry with different opponents?" Weiss then smugly stated.

Yang smiled at her teammate's attitude, then opened the message.

+ _It's time. If you're still up for it. Meet me in my room. What's left of it.+_

While that statement could be taken both ways, Yang got too excited to even think about sending another teasing message. "Hah…girls, it's time!" Yang then said, louder than she had intended to. "Will and Alice are starting their secret mission!"

Blake turned towards Weiss with a sour expression on her face. "Tell me again how we have nothing to worry about," she remarked.

Weiss was aghast. "I didn't think they would start today!"

"Special operations are like being a Huntress, Weiss," Ruby replied without a care in the world. "They can take place anywhere, and anytime. Come on team RWBY! We have a VIP to rescue!"

Weiss and Blake didn't seem particularly happy with this outcome, but that only made sense. Even though they were only going to play a supporting role, they were still assisting in attacking an official Onyx air escort and breaking out a very important "asset".

It was an important decision to make as a team, because Beacon probably wouldn't be supporting them. Not intentionally. So they had put it to a vote. All in favor of risking their necks for a friend? Four to zero. Easy. All in favor for actually believing that they were going to be saving someone from a fate worse than death? Not so much. Weiss and Blake were still skeptical.

Again, that was to be expected. Ruby had insisted on playing a larger role in the ground offense, but Will had been…resolute about that.

" _Absolutely not! It'll be chaos down there! It's not a warzone you can stroll around as you are now. If any of you catches a bullet, the team is screwed."_

Sometimes, the truth hurt.

Still, the four of them had made a promise to a friend and _nobody_ on Beacon was the type to simply let a friend in need down. What use would they be later if they did?

"So how are we going to do this again?" Weiss asked as the four of them made their way through the hallways towards Will's room. "If we're not assisting in taking the base, how are we going to be of any assistance?"

"It's a flying base, Weiss," Ruby replied. "Will and Alice have only one objective."

Blake straightened her back and nodded. "Right. Penetrate the outer perimeter, infiltrate the base and breach the carrier right as it takes off."

"Any sooner and the thing will stay grounded," Yang added. "Any later…"

Weiss shot her an annoyed glance. "And they'll be too _late_ , you dunce."

"I know that! Stating the obvious is part of a debriefing, isn't it?"

They came across the section of the hallway where the ground, walls and ceiling had been lacerated by swift and merciless sword strikes. The location of Will's psychotic breakdown last night, and most likely the cause of his decision to go on the attack while he could still hold a blade.

The gaps in the ground were deep, way too deep to be caused by a normal sword. And Yang doubted even Yatsuhashi could cause such gaping wounds with that huge slab of steel of his.

If the sight of the destruction bothered them, Ruby and Blake didn't show it. Weiss however, was a different case. Normally, she could easily hide her emotions behind a mask of impassiveness. But when it came to the more extreme cases, her face betrayed her inexperience with the world. And because team RWBY only ever seemed to handle the extreme cases…well, by now, every member of the team could when Weiss felt uncomfortable.

That made it much easier for them to ease her worries whenever possible. Ruby was especially eager to do so, for obvious reasons.

"I see no reason not to continue," Yang joked. "Blake, after you?"

Blake shot a glance at the replacement door and Yang could have sworn that her cat ears dropped somewhat. "Unfortunately, I am not wearing a bullseye."

"Yeah, but you're not wearing a cat-bell either."

The Faunus _glared_ at Yang.

"Right, I get it. I'll open it. Ruby, if anything happens to me, promise you you'll take care of Ash. He just isn't ready for life yet."

"Yang!" Weiss hissed. "Not funny!"

"Sorry."

And with that, Yang gave the door a casual knock, causing it to tremble in its hinges. "Hey kids, knock knock. Open up."

"It's open," a voice sounded from inside.

Yang glanced at her team, shrugged and then opened the door…

…walking face-first into the image of what Alice looked like when she was naked from the waist up. Her hair, shorter on the left than on the right, flowed down to touch her gaunt, delicate shoulder blade in a dark shade of green. Her pale back and slender waist was covered with crisscrossing scars and blemishes, some thin and long, others wiry and thick. Yang spotted a patch of burned, leathery skin, two identical bullet holes and even something that looked suspiciously like a cigarette burn right where the curve of her spine reached the contours of her hips, near the sections of the body armor she was putting on.

For a second, Yang forgot that she had barged into someone's room, and she caught herself staring. She quickly shook herself out of it though. She was being very impolite.

Luckily, Alice didn't seem to acknowledge the visitors beyond looking over her shoulder and meeting their gazes for a second.

Will acknowledged them a bit warmer though. He was already fully suited up in what looked like a very high-tech looking suit of interlocking armored plates, with an odd ring around his neck, touching his chin. "Hey."

"Hey," Yang said as Alice continued dressing up. Okay, she was _not_ the only one to stare. Blake looked at the Operative with a mixture of shock and something more befitting of her Faunus nature, while Weiss quickly placed a hand in front of her mouth to hide a gasp.

Even Ruby had to quickly switch to a different setting, which proved to Yang that her little, innocent sister had _indeed_ seen her not-so-innocent partner naked. It was a revelation that she would have to deal with another time.

"Hey!" The little redhead said, in a higher-pitched voice than normal. A difficult thing to achieve for Ruby. "Sorry about this, we ehm…didn't know you were still dressing and…yeah…that's a bit awkward…"

Yang wasn't going to complain. And from what she knew of her team by now, nobody would. Just a little getting used to a different pattern of scars, was all.

"No problem," Will replied while Alice finished zipping up a tight-fitting undersuit. This time, it was Blake who was caught staring.

It was always the quiet ones.

"So you're up for this?" Alice said. She quickly began strapping on the segments of that strange body armor, which looked very light by comparison to other sets of armor Yang had seen. Its texture was different, too. She was reminded of the plates of bone on the back of a Death Stalker, but she wasn't sure why.

"Team RWBY is always up for a challenge," Ruby shot back. "Besides; we're helping out a friend. How can we not be up for this?"

"Touching."

Yang tried not to look at how damaged the room looked compared to the last time she had been here. The window was boarded up, the bed stood in a different place and the cabinet was gone. "I take it you have a good plan? You'll be fighting an army."

Will nodded and reached for his wrist, where an advanced-looking Scroll seemed to be integrated with the suit. "This is the plan of attack." He sent all four of them a file containing what looked like hastily written down scribbles, indecipherable drawings and a simple lay-out of a large base. "Alice and I are linking up with other combatants to breach their perimeter."

Yang looked at Blake, who shrugged. They had been over this already. Mostly.

"Other combatants?" Ruby asked. "I thought you didn't trust people with this?"

"They're extra meat for the grinder," Alice replied. "And kept in the dark of the true purpose of this mission."

Blake crossed her arms. "You're not taking advantage of anyone, are you?" She asked with an accusing tone.

"They volunteered," Will flatly replied. It sounded like he wasn't really happy with the other soldiers they were going to be working with. "They've got their own reasons for this op."

"Who doesn't, these days?" Yang remarked.

Nobody replied to that.

"Once we're in position, we are going to place a tracking beacon on the air-carrier," Alice said, raising a small, spherical-shaped device.

Yang snickered at that, much to Alice's confusion. "What?" The girl asked.

"A tracking _beacon_?" Yang replied. She earned herself a slap on the head from Blake and two very confused little ex-Operatives.

Worth it.

Will decided to continue, hesitantly so. "I don't…ehm…yes. It'll transmit the coordinates of the carrier to everyone linked up to it. And that's where you come in. In the best-case scenario, Alice and I are both onboard and we manage to breach whatever chamber they're using to keep Ancilla locked up. We'll need exfiltration at that point. But in the worst-case scenario…"

"You'll be on your own, outnumbered and outgunned," Blake replied. "And you will have to fight your way in, and out."

"And that's what we're for!" Yang proudly proclaimed. "We specialize in getting into places we really shouldn't. Right, Ruby?"

Ruby coughed rather inconspicuously and turned her head away. `I have no idea what you are talking about…"

"Exactly."

"Either way, it's completely possible that our attack will force the carrier to set down. If they land in Atlas, or any Kingdom where Ironwood has his toy soldiers stationed, we ae going to have to move out _really_ fast."

"We know a good pilot," Ruby said. "A really good one. Once you have those coordinates, she'll get us there in no time."

Nobody pointed out that transport might take up to an hour, if not more, once they actually got those coordinates.

"Just stay tight," Alice told them. "Onyx will have stationed their best soldiers aboard that ship. Combatants of our league. _Better_ than us, because they're not suffering from a brain disease, or living on the street for two years. You bring whatever you need to beat the odds, and whatever you do, _do. Not. Hesitate._ "

Will nodded. "Of course, you four will have something they don't."

He didn't tell them what it was, and neither did he need to. Tram RWBY knew that particular tactical advantage better than anyone. Their survival had depended on their teamwork for so long now, that working together to prevail had become a second nature.

After that, the four of them stayed over for a little while longer, simply to go over the possibilities and problems they might run into. Yang kept glancing at Will to see how he was doing and she was pleased to see that he was constantly looking at her, too. Even though they were secretly discussing this mission in a small bedroom, she couldn't help but feel like there was something final about this. If Will was right, and he would find Ancilla, everything would change. But if he was wrong, he would finally be faced with the reality of his life, and his mind might not be able to take the shock.

And Yang didn't even want to think about what could go wrong with this mission. She was pretty confident that the four of them would make it through alright. But it was just like Alice said; their enemies were the best of the best, the deadliest of killers. And while Will and Alice were very, very gifted, they weren't immune to slipups. They made mistakes. They lost fights too.

Eventually, the time had come. "Dropship's waiting for us Grey," Alice softly said. She seemed more reserved than normal. Almost like an actual person. Did she feel the same way Yang did? That this mission would be a final one, one way or the other?

"I'll send you the heads-up once we get there," Will told them. It looked like he wanted to say something else, but he just fell quiet. "I'll see you in the air."

"Please. Certainly you are not suggesting you leave without a proper wave-off?" Weiss suggested in her familiar well-meaning haughty tone.

"A what?"

"A goodbye," Ruby said, smiling. "A proper one. Where is the dropship picking you up?"

"In front of the main hall," Will replied, looking a bit put off. How had he not seen this coming? "It's a really quick pick-up. There's really no need-"

Yang took a hold of his hand and pulled him closer. "No but's! If you're going to risk your neck out there with Alice, I want to make sure you know what you're coming back to."

Will had always been quick to accept Yang's word. He was submissive like that. At least, she liked to think of him like being submissive. There was a lot of room for thought in that department.

For now though, she would just be glad when he came back to her alive, in one piece, and preferably with his partner. The odds were stacked against him, but he had always had a knack for turning the odds around. And even though she loathed to admit it, there were qualities about him that even she didn't know. Like the sudden appearance of a sword identical to her mother's in his arsenal. She had _not_ seen that one coming.

"I lied to you," he suddenly and quietly told her. This time of the day, most of the students were still in the Amity Colosseum of the fairgrounds. They encountered little to no other students, which was probably a good thing.

"About what?" Yang replied. "Don't tell me that you're secretly going to run off into the sunset with Alice."

It was a joke, and luckily, even he recognized it as such. "I don't even think Alice is interested in my gender in that way. No, I mean…look, I know you and Ruby think that Alice and I are victims in all of this, and in a way, I guess we are, but we did bad things."

"Duh. That's the point of child soldiers, isn't it? Oh, don't look at me like that," Yang added when Will gave her a questioning look. "You'd be surprised how much information you can find. People trained like you can be ordered to do terrible things, and you don't know any better when do it. It's why we bumped heads so much, way back at the start of the year."

"Yeah, you're right. That's the point. There's more to it. Onyx didn't just stop at having us not know any better. That would leave us confused about what to do. They needed to be sure that we would _do_ as we were _told_ and that we would _like_ it."

"I ehm…wait, what?"

Will grimaced. "I tried to hide it, rationalize it just like you and Ruby tried to do for me. It didn't work out. I guess it took Ancilla loosening memories I had suppressed, or just the stress of this dementia-thing. There's a reason we're still alive, I suppose."

Alright, Yang was officially being creeped out somewhat. "What do you mean?" She looked over her shoulder, verifying that nobody was listening in on them.

"I mean that there was something very wrong with me, before Ancilla. Because…" He took a deep, steadying breath, as if to reassure himself, before continuing. "The healthy twelve-year-old doesn't feel the thrill of giddy anticipation at the thought of killing someone. He doesn't fantasize about killing people who annoy him, or recall massacres with satisfaction."

Yang had to actively regulate her voice as she replied. "Listen to yourself! What are you saying? I thought-"

"I'm saying that Onyx had to be certain that we wouldn't develop second thoughts about our lives. They made sure we were content with our lot in life, that we would _like_ what we did. Withhold food and sleep if we hesitated, reward us when we obeyed."

"Reward?" Yang asked. It sounded a lot more like brainwashing than before. That was how you trained animals, by rewarding them until they happily obeyed. That was so _wrong._

"Food and water when we were young. Combat stimulants and…more exciting chemicals when were older." His voice was laced with bitterness, but he looked so _miserable_ explaining this. How long had he been walking around, feeling ashamed for feeling things he couldn't help?

"Damn," Yang replied. What else was there to say? What had he expected of her? That she would go up and dump him, merely because a bunch of sick fucks had messed with his head? A weak-willed civilian might have. But Yang was _far_ from normal herself. "And then people accuse me of loving to fight."

"I wanted to tell you before, I really did…but I only found out a few days ago."

Yang winced. "Must have made for some bitter self-reflecting. That sucks."

He nodded. "It does."

They reached the main hall that connected Beacon to the courtyard. The others were fully engrossed in their conversation, so there was still time. "What about the PTSD? How did you get that when you liked what you did?"

He uttered a short, cynical laugh. "The latest one? Ancilla became desperate. As the Arcadia-Luna conflict reached its climax, so did her mental resistance. When she couldn't fight through Onyx's conditioning, she tried to fix it on her own."

Yang whistled. "Ouch."

"She managed to get rid of that…that _disgusting_ pleasure that the act of killing brought me. She also managed to replace it with something, arguably worse."

Yang wondered what she would have done in Ancilla's position, then realized that she was completely unable to relate to such a horrible position. Damned if she did, damned if she didn't. Man, that girl had been through a LOT. "Why didn't you simply tell me when you found out?"

He lowered his head. "I'm making life difficult for you," he whispered. "I didn't want to make it worse. I just…I didn't want you to hate me."

As the rest of the team -and Alice- wandered past the two of them, towards the hovering dropship, Yang reached out and placed her arm around Will's waist. She pulled him closer, and before he could say anything, gently placed her lips against his. He resisted for a split-second before relaxing inside of her embrace, giving in to her will.

His skin felt hot and flustered, making Yang's mind go places it really shouldn't. The connections between sex and violence were already blatant enough in the normal world, let alone his.

After a few seconds, she broke off. "Hate you? Never. Be safe out there."

Seeing him smile so earnest, so genuinely happy, was a rare and rewarding experience. "I will."

Yang laughed. "Hah…I made you say your name."

He stepped back, the metal ring around his neck unfolding into a dozen metal segments, which quickly formed an angular-looking helmet around his head, sleek and dark grey. It made him look somewhat like a Nevermore.

"I thought _you_ were desperate to utter my name?" He teased her.

Yang smiled, but the smile quickly faded when she realized what failure on his side would mean. "Will…I need you to come back to me, alright?"

"Yang," he started, but she didn't let him finish.

"No, I need to hear you say it," she insisted. "Too many people dear to me disappeared on me, and I…I don't want to _lose_ another one-"

Will reached for her hand and took it, enveloping it with his armored hands. "I'm not her, Yang. I'm not Raven, and I will only leave you when _you_ want me to. I'm going through that base, and I will come back, two people."

Yang felt her eyes sting and she quickly looked away, not wanting to appear weak. "I know…I just…" she shook head, trying to shake off those damn tears. "No, I know. Go kick some ass out there, and bring back our girl safe."

He let go of her hands, and even ran a finger past her eye, brushing off a tear that Yang hadn't even noticed come through. "I promise."

~0~

* * *

Blake glanced up at the sleek, black transport that Alice and Blake would be riding all the way into Atlesian territory. A man stood near the open edge, glaring at the approaching group with dark, steeled eyes and a stern expression his face.

She subtly reached for the handle of her weapon. Will hadn't said anything about the allies he had picked for his assignment. "Who's that?" She whispered to Alice, who didn't seem disturbed by the rock-hard man standing near her transport at all.

"Sergeant Major Dusk," Alice replied with a bit of a smirk. "Of all the people, I always liked him the most."

Blake frowned, and definitely did not take her hand off her weapon. "You know him?"

"Of course I do. He's the man trained who Will, Alan and me when we were younger."

And just like that, suspicion turned to outright hostility. Blake had heard stories about the 'training'. Scraps, rumors, vague at beat, but none of them good. This was one of the men responsible for turning children into murderers? This was the man who could take a kid and teach her how to hold a gun? How to stick a knife the right way?

It would never, _ever_ sit right with her.

And worst of all, there was still a hint of admiration on Alice's eyes. What on Remnant was that for?

"Why is he here?" Blake hissed.

Alice shrugged. "'Cause he owes us. He gave us our hardware, our gear for the mission. Regret is a powerful tool, Blake, even though he would eat his shoes before admitting it."

"Is that admiration in your voice?"

The girl didn't look like there was anything wrong with that. "He's old," she settled for saying. "But really tough. You don't find people like him with Atlas."

Blake didn't doubt that for a single moment.

He greeted his two 'pupils' with a curt nod. His skin was leathery and wrinkled, but he still had an impressive physique for a man of his age. "Operatives."

Even Will didn't seem bothered by the man. "Dusk," he replied.

Alice glanced at Blake, still without her helmet on. She seemed doubtful about something. "Hey ehm…guess I'll see you up there, right?"

Blake rolled with her eyes and made a mental note to teach Alice how to properly say goodbye when she came back. Will had learned how to show and appreciate affection, so she shouldn't have any trouble with it either, right?

Still, she respected Alice's decision to handle it without drama. Unlike _some_ people. "Sure. Give 'em hell."

Alice's smile widened. "Oh, don't worry. We will."

~0~

* * *

 **Thirty minutes later**

 **Unknown aerial space**

 **Dropship V03**

The flight towards Atlas controlled territory in an Onyx-affiliated airship would have been tense enough to make anyone feel anxious. But to Emerald Sustrai, it was even worse. She knew that she was about to head into a situation unlike anything she had ever faced before, with two people who could stab them in the back at any moment during the tense fighting that would be taking place.

The interior of this craft was meant to hold a dozen heavily-armed soldiers, so the five of them had ample space. But still, Emerald couldn't help but feel like she was surrounded.

She nervously eyed the person sitting in front of her, with that strange, flexible armor. Operative Mantis, in a different sentiment than Greystone, hated it when people referred to her with her call-sign. Cinder had explained why, but Emerald still found it difficult to believe. After Blackwood, the third freak they had grown up with, had gone into the deep end eighteen months ago, Mantis had officially defected from Onyx.

A year and a half, tops. That was it. _She_ had been living on the streets for _years_ before Cinder managed to find her, and people sympathized with Mantis because she managed to last eighteen months?

Emerald couldn't stand the freak. A brat, that was what she was. A psychotic brat that received sympathy for having killed people. What a load of crap!

Where was the publicity and support for _her_? When _she_ had been living on the street, exhausted and starving, nobody had given a fuck. And now, just because they happened to have been outed by a whistleblower, these Onyx kids were branded as tragic little heroes? It was insane.

They were all insane.

Cinder seemed unbothered by all of this though. She sat back against the metal frame of the cargo hold, resting with her head against the cold steel. Her eyes were closed, but Emerald wouldn't believe for a moment that she was sleeping. Not when she was in the company of dogs like Greystone and Mantis.

Mercury pretended like it didn't bother him, as he did with everything, but even he was unable to hide his unease at the situation. What would they be facing?

The journey inside of the metal tube was spent in utter silence. Neither the Operatives nor Cinder spoke to each other, though Emerald was certain that there was _something_ going on. There was a tension in the air, a sort of unease that she was unable to shake off.

She couldn't stand it. This wasn't the sort silence that she wanted.

But it lasted, so she had to endure it. Even when the dropship encountered heavy turbulence and everybody inside was heavily shaken by the sudden forces that nature exerted on the manmade device. At one point, it grew so violent that Emerald started to fear that they were being assaulted by Nevermores, which ruled the sky between the Kingdoms-

The two little freaks exchanged a look and Emerald _knew_ that something was wrong.

But still nobody spoke, and the ride continued.

And then finally, they had reached their objective.

" _We don't have authorization to come closer,"_ the voice of their "pilot" echoed through the ship's speakers.

"Nobody does," Greystone muttered.

" _I'm putting her down in this clearing."_

The two Operatives looked at Cinder, who only bothered to acknowledge their stare before looking away again, unimpressed.

"Don't bother waiting," Greystone then said. "This is a one-way trip."

Alarmed, Emerald shot a glare at Mercury, who shrugged. Their treachery was already starting!

"…a _cknowledged. Happy hunting, kids."_

"I take it you have an escape plan in mind?" Cinder asked.

"There will be plenty of aircraft at the staging point. You can jack one of those."

Emerald noticed the way he pronounced "you". He had something else in mind for him and his little friend.

"We shall see," Cinder replied.

And Cinder saw right through them. Emerald should have known better than to doubt.

The five of them left the dropship and immediately headed into the forest that would conceal them from the passing patrols. They were in deep now, in the middle of Onyx territory. This was their golden hour, as Cinder called it. The first hour of an infiltration was always the most crucial one. After it had gone by, the chances of failure would increase dramatically.

Greystone turned towards the north and placed a hand on the handle of his sword. "This way," he instructed them. His voice was like a whisper, and he didn't bother waiting for them.

Mantis immediately followed him though, so this had to be their normal way of acting around each other. It made Mercury seem courteous and adorable.

And just like that, the five of them dove into the dark forest, headed straight towards what was possibly the best-guarded facility in the vicinity. They would be facing other Operatives, who were capable of swatting aside well-trained Huntsmen and Huntresses with ease. Capable of fighting for days at an end without resting. They _would_ outlast their group if not dealt with immediately.

But they had one trump card that they didn't. Cinder's powers. They couldn't possibly know about her and as such, they were going to be unprepared during the golden hour.

Yes…perhaps this might end in victory after all.

Greystone and Mantis seemed to fade away into the forest, blending in with the long shadows that the setting sun casted on the ground. Emerald had lost them completely, safe for some distanced noises and movements.

But Cinder hadn't. She merely smirked and said, "It seems the dementia has already affected his finer motion control…such a _waste_."

And with that, the woman sped off after the two freaks, leaving Mercury and Emerald with no other option but to follow her and trust that she knew what she was doing.

After ten minutes of traversing the overgrown, dark forest, during which they evaded patrols both on the ground as in the air, they finally reached the base.

At the edge of the forest they came across a faint slope, which led a dozen meters down across open ground until reaching the base. And what a base it was. The first thing Emerald noticed was the large spire that stood in the middle of it, like some sort of control tower. It was easily higher than the CCT in Beacon and looked like the central point of this place. The various buildings were surrounded by a red and black fence, that looked like it was electrified to boot.

She didn't see the ship.

"Oh," Mercury said upon seeing the fortress. "That might be a problem."

"They are sure to have stationed a small army there," Mantis helpfully pointed out.

"It won't help them." Greystone said with a low growl.

"If we cut through the left, we can circumvent the main structure and fortify our left flank, but it will leave our right open for enemy attacks."

"Then we go straight through the middle," Cinder said.

Even here, she was taking the lead. She truly was a natural leader.

"The carrier is all the way in the back," Mantis replied. "It will try to take off as soon as we are noticed. We need to board it _as_ it is leaving."

Greystone´s angular helmet lowered. "We'll make it. This ends, _today."_

And with that last remark, the Operative kicked off and started sprinting down the muddy slope where the forest transitioned into an open field. The rest of the group immediately charged in after him, and once more, Emerald could feel the adrenaline raging through her body. This wasn't like infiltrating some stupid school with a bunch of dumb kinds; in here, every combatant would be as dangerous as she was, if not more so.

They crossed the multiple dozens of meters in half a minute, during which nobody opened fire on them. Looks like they hadn't expected a handful of enemies to simply charge at their base. Didn't they need to defend themselves against the Grimm?

What little thought was left inside of Emerald's mind quickly faded away as the Operative pulled at the hilt of his sword and unleashed it with a flash of light and the sound of an energy weapon discharging. In a single cut, without breaking stride, he carved through the fence and leapt through the hole.

Mantis immediately leapt after him, closely followed by Cinder and Mercury. Emerald was the last one through, though that didn't bother her. She had long ago learned to stop competing against a guy with metal legs.

Several soldiers stood in their way, hauling crates and other supplies. They immediately dropped what they were doing and moved to engage them, but their numbers were few, and the element of surprise worked against them.

Greystone and Mantis both picked and then clashed with their opponents, as did Mercury and Emerald. The last thing Emerald saw before her weapons clashed with those of the helmeted soldier, was Cinder breaking off from their group and rushing towards the building that stood ahead.

She was going for the carrier.

This was where their unspoken agreement would be set in motion. Greystone and Mantis would not make it aboard that vessel.

~0~

* * *

The last of the Onyx soldiers had just fallen when William glanced up from his kill. He saw Cinder making a break for the central structure, while her flunkies stayed behind.

Alarm shot through him as he realized what she was doing, and he quickly sheathed his blade to allow the rail-release mechanisms to recharge. Without bothering to see of Alice was ready to follow, he broke into a sprint.

' _It is strange…'_ Ancilla's voice sounded distant, like she was speaking to him from underwater.

He didn't understand what she said, and neither did he try to rectify that. His eyes were focused on the red hint of Cinder Fall's rapidly-moving shape. Hatred and frustration rose up in his throat like bile. He could _feel_ his skin itch, his blood boiling.

Sprinting past the other soldiers that emerged, the ex-Operative allowed his suit to transfer some of his momentum into the electrical charge that powered the coils in his sheath. He would need a maximum charge to cut through the defenses that Fall was likely to throw his way. He was _not_ going to let her escape, he wouldn't.

Time seemed to a halt as he caught the sudden flicker of a blade coming his way. He instantly drew his sword and, further boosted by the explosive force of the rail-release system, managed to intercept the machete before it could hit it.

Metal bit metal as he locked blades with one of the Onyx soldiers, who immediately sidestepped and withdrew his blade, only to bring it down on Will's neck from the side.

William instantly intercepted the soldier's second attack, as well as the third and the fourth. He took a step back and chained together a series of slashes at his opponent's chest, but the soldier was too sharp and leapt back as well to avoid the longer blade.

Through a mixture of blind aggression and finer reflexes, the enemy pressed the attack, forcing Will into a stalemate he couldn't afford. He cursed under his breath and shoved his opponent back, before lashing out with his leg and kicking his opponent's left leg, which got knocked aside under the blow.

The soldier stumbled and Will struck, cutting clean through his opponent's left arm and severing him from his weapon.

Satisfied with the quick incapacitation, he pressed on, carving a path towards the main structure. For some reason, Onyx seemed to employ mechanized combat units as well, but it didn't make a difference. It merely meant that he didn't have to worry about beating down someone's Aura before making the kill, as he easily dispatched the squads of combat mechs that attempted to stop him.

He saw Cinder traversing the main structure, heading towards the massive tower that dominated the base. He was close, almost close enough to risk closing in the distance with a lunging attack.

And then the black/red structure that he and Cinder were scaling seemed to explode outwards, throwing both of them back to the ground.

Pieces of molten metal and debris went everywhere. The smaller structure was gone; in its place stood two familiar-looking assault vehicles, which were fully unfolded and fully ready to lay waste to the invaders.

"Spider Droids!" Emerald yelled.

Will watched the two multi-legged droids take aim and growled in frustration. Why couldn't _anything_ ever be _simple?_

~0~

* * *

As Emerald and Mercury wisely broke off and sought cover, Alice wondered why Onyx would leave the defense of such an important asset to a handful of soldiers and two obsolete combat vehicles. Sure, they were enough to deter an army or team or Hunters, but the five of them simply tore through these defenses. Had the Grimm softened this place up? Did Ancilla subconsciously call out to the creatures or something?

She wasn't going to underestimate two Spoider-droids though, especially not when she was standing still in the middle of an open field and _especially_ not when both of them were charging their weapons.

Alice looked around, spotting the main gate that lay beyond the massive tower. It looked really sturdy. Perhaps they could trick one of these things into blasting it? Alternatively, they could just dispatch of these two robots and bust the gate down on their own, but still.

"You go on ahead-" Alice yelled at her partner, but Will merely let out a rather savage-sounding snarl and then immediately moved to intercept these two new targets, as if prioritizing them above stopping Cinder.

The ex-Operative rolled with her eyes and calmly walked towards the two Spiderbots, waiting until their weapons were fully charged. At that point, both of them opened fire on _her,_ while allowing the rest of their team to freely move around.

She smirked.

Her Semblance kicked in.

The directed energy that the robotic enemies spat at her direction slowed to a crawl and Alice moved. She ducked low and unsheathed both of her katanas, heading straight towards the left droid so that Will could focus on the right.

The projectiles tore a path through the air and impacted somewhere far beyond her. A clean miss.

More Onyx soldiers emerged from the surrounding buildings, as well as other combat vehicles like jeeps and light APC's with rapidly-firing autocannons. Being outgunned and outnumbered, Alice couldn't help but smirk. It was strange, and she had never fully understood, but the moments in which she had the highest chance of dying were the most peaceful ones in her life.

She seemed to be at her most comfortable when surrounded by corpses, soaked in blood, and she _hated_ that.

Still, hatred was exactly what she was going to waste on these things. She had some bottled-up frustration to work out today.

She leapt at the closest Spider-bot, easily dodging its laughably-slow melee attack by activating her Semblance right before it impacted. Its sharp appendages tore through vacant space and Alice quickly carved them up before they could be retracted. Its armor was thick, thicker than the normal version that the battlefields of Remnant used with these things. It took her a while to figure out the best pattern, the optimal way of moving.

She spotted Will tackling the other Spider droid, choosing to block and reflect its heavy strikes rather than dodge them. He had always been sturdier than her. Pain was something that drove every Onyx soldier beyond their limits, but Will had always been good at turning the physical discomforts of his body into something useful.

The Spiderbot violently shook itself, intent om shaking Alice off. She released the metal frame and allowed it to get rid of her, but only for a brief moment. When she came down again, she did so with enough force to cut clean through one of its many guns, silencing it for good. She lacked the strength to fully demolish this thing in one strike, but why should she? Within limits, she had all the time in the world.

Her Semblance kicked in, the flow of time slowed to a trickle and Alice perfectly aligned her blades with the bot's main gun, slowly exhaling as she did.

Then, she started cutting. Within the zen-state of no thought that she had achieved through years of rigorous training, she was able to achieve a dexterity and focus matched only by the sharpest Faunus. Further augmented by her Semblance, that meant the Spider-droid found its main gun carved into a hundred little pieces before its processors could even realign its sights with its target.

Alice laughed, but was quickly forced to take a more mobile approach to this fight when multiple Onyx soldiers targeted her with automatic weapons and sniper rifles.

Will, in the meantime, was having more trouble. He now lacked the reflexes and discipline to time his attacks perfectly and thus, he nearly found himself outmatched by his foe.

At one point, he sliced clean through one of the Spider-droid's legs, but left himself open to a vicious counter-attack. The massive droid reared up on its hind-legs and nailed the still-airborne Operative with a hammerblow.

Will took the full brunt of the attack and was thrown several dozen meters up into the air. He somehow managed to stick the landing and ended up against the side of the massive spire that stood in the middle of the base.

What happened next was about Onyx enough to give Cinder Fall pause. Will sheathed his sword and started sprinting down the side of the tower, allowing gravity to further boost his speed to insane levels. Sniper fire and directed energy blasts blew away large swaths of the tower's structure, but none of them managed to nail Will with enough force to blow him off. The Spider-droid leapt in the air and attempted to intercept the Operative before he could land, but it was much, _much_ too slow.

With her Semblance active, Alice saw it all. At the last possible moment, Will unleashed the full charge of his sheath in one, mighty swing. He tore clean through the Spider-droid, from its most forward-facing cannon to its hind legs, slicing the mighty war machine in two identical halves with one clean cut.

The maneuver just screamed _Beacon_ at her, and Alice chuckled before finishing off her own Spider-droid by carving her way towards its power-core and stabbing the little device. "Show-off," she muttered. Was this what the Beacon kids taught him? How to show off in a fight? Hah. She could have done that, too.

Upon the destruction of the two walking bullseyes, Emerald and Mercury didn't seem that pinned down anymore. In fact, the way they quickly slipped away as the present Onyx soldiers shifted their fire to the two more obvious threats, gave Alice the sneaking suspicion that they had been ordered to lay low and let _them_ deal with the major threats.

Slippery bastards, all of them.

But they had to move before the Onyx forces swarmed them. If they stayed and fight, they might well get overwhelmed, and the entire world would turn a little bit darker if that woman got her hands on the Catalyst.

Will finally got the hint when Alice all but dragged him with her, over the massive gate and after Cinder. Something was wrong at this base, and she thought she knew why. The lack of rival Operatives made her very anxious. After all, why leave the defense of such an important asset to a small group like this?

Apparently, there was a reason for it. And a good one.

After the two of them stumbled over the gate, there was a short moment where both of them took in the next section of the battlefield and could have been caught _staring._

The carrier was _massive._ It was easily several hundred meters large and covered with steel plates that could shrug off tank shells. Even worse, it was completely sealed off; how on Remnant were they going to get aboard that monster?

"Those three are not making it aboard," Will all but whispered. "Understand?"

At that point, Alice remembered why she had been so hasty, and she thought she caught the faint distant rumbling of confirmation about to swoop in.

"Shit," she muttered.

Will reached for the handle of his sword and stood, but Alice quickly seized his hand and pulled him back down.

He fixed her with an angry stare. "What?" He demanded.

"Enemy air support," she replied. "Danger close!"

And the faint rumbling grew a little bit noticeable, which was all the warning they got before all hell broke loose and everything went white.

Explosions, fire and heat. Shockwaves and overpressure washed over her and the entire world seemed to come apart. A thousand tiny knives stabbed her and when she took a shuddering breath, it felt like her stomach had been cut in half and stitched back together the wrong way.

Alice blinked away the white haze that was her vision and realized that she was lying on the ground. Large pieces of heavy… _somethings…_ were lying atop her, and she couldn't move.

Then, one of the pieces of debris was pulled aside and she felt someone grab her by her left arm, hauling her back to her feet.

For a split-second, she was ten again, and as soon as she caught herself on her bloodied hands, the Sergeant called, _stand up and fight!_

Someone yelled at her. The ex-Operative shook her head and cleared the dizziness. Her legs didn't quite work the way they were supposed to. "What?"

She saw the vague outline of Greystone without his helmet, holding her by her shoulders and gazing into her eyes intently. Vague became clear, yet her hearing didn't come back. It was all ringing and buzzing, the telltale signs of shell shock.

Will's mouth moved again and this time, Alice caught her name in there somewhere. She reached up and slapped the side of her helmet, hoping that it was just buggy hardware.

It wasn't, but luckily, her Aura was still strong enough to heal whatever damage the airstrike had done to her ears.

"Alice!"

"You don't have to shout," she wanted to reply, but her body thought that a violent coughing fit might be better for her, and it took her a few moments to recover again.

"Your leg is busted," Will then told her.

Alice looked down and saw a rather grizzly sight. A steel piece of rebar or debris had punched a hole through her leg and was now poking out the other side. Adrenaline and shock were keeping the pain at bay, but not for long.

"Here, take this." Her fellow runaway reached for his pouch and pulled out a syringe.

Alice groaned. "I hate needles…"

Will proceeded to give zero fucks and then stabbed her in the leg with it, much to her chagrin.

"Asshole."

He reached for a second syringe and popped it himself. "Civvie."

Alice reached for the tracking device and handed it over. There was no use pretending like she was going to be of any use now. At least they had won this little skirmish. The surrounding area had been blown to bits. Close airsupport had all but annihilated the infrastructure and turned the surrounding area into rubble. The two of them were lying amidst the rubble of what had once been a bunker, and the bad guys were nowhere to be seen.

Bad news though. The carrier was starting to move. "Will…"

He nodded. "I know. Listen-"

A dozen meters away, a pile of rubble exploded into fire and flames and the distinctive glowing form of Cinder Fall emerged from the molten hole, unharmed. Behind her, the two kids that she dragged around quickly ran up to her. Alice was pleased to see that at least those two looked messed up, but hey, they weren't the one with rebar in their leg.

"Leave me," Alice immediately said. "I'll hold them off."

He shook his head. "There are plenty of vehicles left. Grab one, make sure nobody's looking at you, then get out."

"What about you?"

"I'm going to find her, and _bring her home_." He stood up, and Alice was once again reminded of her own fragility. They had both taken an airstrike to the face and he didn't look much worse for wear, while _she_ still felt her shoulder chafe from where that bitch had stabbed her some time ago.

Alice saw Cinder look at their direction. Will followed her gaze and saw it too. At this point, it was no longer a matter of force or power.

A hint of fear crossed his face.

"Good luck," Alice whispered.

Cinder and Will moved at the exact same time. Both exploded into movement and sprinted down the slope of debris and rubble that the airstrike had left in its wake in a mad dash to intercept the carrier before it could pick up enough speed to leave them both behind.

Alice crawled back to her knees, wincing when the metal scraped past her bone. Fuck, this would take a long time to heal.

Mercury and Emerald merely watched the spectacle below unfold, but damnit, a girl like her couldn't just sit around and watch!

That was when she noticed one of the few tankers that had miraculously survived the saturate bombing and an idea formed in her head.

~0~

* * *

Dirt and pieces of rocks exploded from underneath Will's armored boots as he dug them deep into the ground, trying to gain his top speed in as little time as possible. What he wouldn't have given for Ruby's Semblance right now, to be able to instantly blurt towards your target…instead he was stuck with an inability to properly bleed out.

Cinder Fall was merciless as she unleashed bolt after bolt of searing flames at his legs, intent on crippling him long enough to gain the advantage. She would even mix in those flash-forged glass projectiles with her attacks to further blindside him. They were moving parallel to each other, neither of them able to gain the lead over the other. But Cinder was constantly augmenting her speed with sudden blasts of fire and _he_ was starting to grow tired.

But this time, he would not be swayed by hallucinations and fears. With his sword in his left hand, he managed to deflect her projectiles, but only barely so. She was relentless, acted without hesitation and, in direct contrast to him, wasn't left shaking and reeling from a brain disease.

The last shot had extended the time they had left, but didn't help stave off the exhaustion. Still, Ancilla did whatever she could to keep him functioning. She knew his body better than anyone in Remnant, and had perfect control over it. She directed his Semblance like a scalpel, unhesitatingly interfering with exact precision. She mended the several wounds that they had received through the armor, staved off the burning in his muscles and steadied his trembling wrist.

Cinder's smile grew wider and doubt started to well up in Will's stomach like an ugly disease. Would he be able to find them in time, before Fall could disappear? Would they return to Beacon or immediately return to whoever they worked with now?

And what would happen with Ancilla? Would they be able to keep her safe from Onyx, better than him?

He was unable to properly banish those thoughts and slowly, doubt turned to desperation. Would anyone be able to keep her safe?

Ancilla felt what he was doing and guided his focus back to the most urgent matter at hand. More glass darts tore a path through the vacant air between his legs and Will instantly lashed out with his blade, shattering the remaining projectiles and forcing Cinder to duck low. The reach of his weapon was significant, but Cinder's reach even more so. And she wasn't sprinting in full gear.

The woman slowly surpassed his position, closing in on the carrier faster than he could.

"No!"

A loud claxon erupted from behind them and out of nowhere, a massive tanker with a full load drove up behind them, closely followed by several armored cars, guns blazing.

Incredulously, Will risked a glance at the truck's driver, who was now slowly overtaking him, passing in-between Cinder and him. "Alice?"

"Hey Greystone," she shouted at him even as bullets pinged off the fuel tank. "Surf's up!"

He spotted the long trail of fuel leaking out of the tanker, added one plus one and sheathed his sword. "Ancilla, Aura, on our back."

With a mock salute to Cinder, Alice crawled out of the canopy and quickly abandoned the tanker via the roof, just in time for the infuriated woman to blast it with a torrent of fire.

" _Wait!"_ Ancilla cried out in panic. " _I don't like fire-!"_

Too late. The tanker violently exploded in a conflagration of heat, metal fragments and flames. In the instance before the punishing waves of overpressure put an end to all rational thoughts, William realized the suicidal genius of the plan, and vowed to tell Yang he had one-upped her with explosion-boosted maneuvers.

~0~

* * *

 **Beacon Academy**

 **Airship staging area**

Ruby sighed with frustration as she checked her Scroll for the fifth time that minute. "Nope. Still nothing."

Damnit, they had been waiting for two hours now!

"Ruby, how exactly did you envision an infiltration mission going?" Blake asked from behind her book.

"Ehm…simple? You slip in through the backdoor, ninja your way past the guards, complete the objective and then escape while the entire place goes up in an explosion." Ruby shrugged. "Seems obvious."

Weiss glanced at Yang, who shrugged. "Don't look at me, that's how I always thought they went?"

Blake didn't bother to show her disapproval at that last comment. "Infiltrating an enemy compound does _not_ go that way. First, you observe the defenses, the guards and their patrols. Then you encircle the base, secure your exit and find a way in. And _then_ you complete your objective. Of course, this might last up to an hour as well."

"No explosions?" Ruby asked.

"No. You exfiltrate with discretion and put maximum distance between you and your foe before they realize your insertion. It is a long and often tedious procedure, which can last for hours."

Ruby snorted. "But that's so booooring!"

Blake's eyes peered over the edge of her book. "Not every mission can be reworked into an action movie, Ruby…"

Ruby grumbled something in return and resumed her own reading. Since they had gotten the word, they had gone back to their dorms, prepared to the best of their capabilities, then explained the gist of the situation to their favorite pilot, Lotus. She could make her ship spin circles around Nevermores and she _never_ asked questions.

But the waiting was so horrible! And Ruby wasn't the most patient person on Beacon.

After another half an hour, at long last, they received the signal.

The software patch that Alessa had helped them download accepted the sudden flow of information and translated it to a set of constantly-changing coordinates."

"It's working!" Ruby yelped. "They made it!"

"Alright!" Yang shouted. "Now we're talking! Come on, time to get our friends!"

Ruby left a trail of falling rose petals on her way towards the airship, where Lotus was sleeping in her cockpit. She was the first to reach the door and then pounded on the glass pane, yelling, "Wake up Lotus! We're moving! Our friend did it!"

The aviator shot awake and took a moment to pull herself together. Then, she put on her sunglasses and directed the team to come inside.

Oh, how Ruby loved people who knew how to hurry. Lotus had gotten them through a lot of ill-authorized trips, after all.

"Hurry Weiss!" Ruby shouted. "They need us!"

As soon as the adorable little Heiress had boarded the airship, it took off, much to her dismay.

"At least wait until I'm strapped in properly!"

" _Ladies of team RWBY, welcome aboard Lotus-airways. If you look to your right, you will see Beacon rapidly disappearing beneath you. Our next stop: a classified Onyx aircraft carrier. In air."_

Ruby nodded at Blake, who took her Scroll and started uploading the program to the airship's navbase. With it, they would be able to track the massive airship.

For a long seventy minutes, the airship drifted through the air above Remnant, correcting its course every now and then. Within its hold, the four members of team RWBY alternated between inspecting their weapons, guessing at the extent of the enemy's presence and the consequences of their actions.

Ruby saw them all acting casual and matter-of-factly, as if they weren't worried, but she knew better. All of them were scared of what would be coming. What they would be fighting. Ruby dreaded the idea of having to go up against enemy Operatives, but she also loved the idea of finally fighting by Will and Alice's side in combat. With them at their side, there wasn't an enemy they couldn't face.

And that was what Ruby kept telling herself every time her fears and anxiety over the fate of her team threatened to take over, until finally, Lotus announced that they were coming within visual range of an unidentified airship.

The little dropship rapidly approached the contact, but Ruby still had no idea what they were facing. Was it big, was it small? Built for stealth, or built for air-defence? So far they hadn't encountered any fire, but could that be because the ship hadn't noticed them? Or because Will and Alice had destroyed its defences?

" _Nobody has hailed us yet and we're coming in fast,"_ the voice of their pilot sounded. Lotus then quickly adjusted their approach, because the ship made a sudden break for the right. " _Hang on. Damn, that thing is big."_

Ruby discarded her idea of a small, stealth-built ship and then turned to address her team. "It's almost time. Get ready."

It still took Lotus several nerve-wracking moments to actually get the ship in position, but once she did, her triumph was easy to hear through the intercom. " _Alright girls, we're in position. I don't see any openings."_

With a smirk, Yang pulled out the breaching charge that Grace had lend her. "Don't worry Lotus, we got this. Open the hatch."

The pilot did as Yang asked and then team RWBY was faced with the enormity of their task. Literally; the ship was freaking huge! It easily dwarfed anything that General Ironwood used in his fleet and in the cover of the night, it was pretty hard to spot.

"There!" Blake shouted, opening fire on one specific spot in the hull to mark it. The bullet harmlessly bounced off of the thick plating, but Yang had her mark. She activated the Havoc charge and took the leap, easily crossing the several meters that separated their tiny airship from the titanic vessel. She then planted the charge on the side of the carrier and quickly jumped back aboard the ship, where Ruby and Blake were quick to catch her should she misstep.

She didn't, and their airship quickly surged away from the carrier before the charge detonated.

The Havoc went off with a smaller boom than Ruby had expected, but it became so bright that she had to avert her eyes. When the airship came back around for the entry, the Havoc had burned an impressive hole in the frame of the ship.

"We should be able to enter through there," Blake said.

"And if not?" Weiss was quick to ask.

In response, Yang raised another Havoc charge. "Just cover your eyes," she said with a wink.

Weiss scoffed and looked away.

"Thanks for the ride Lotus!" Ruby quickly yelled, before unfolding Crescent Rose and preparing herself for the jump.

" _You know our motto. We deliver! Good luck girls. I'll be on standby."_

And with that, the team moved out. Ruby activated her Semblance and blinked across the deep fall that separated the two ships, easily making it into the hole. Yang was quick to follow, boosting herself across with a single shot. Weiss then activated a Glyph and got both herself as Blake across.

"Alright!" Ruby said. "We made it in!"

"Let's not celebrate before we're done, alright?" Blake replied, unsheathing her sword. "They know we're coming."

Luckily, they didn't need to further breach their way into the massive ship. Unluckily, the bad guys were already waiting for them. Ruby barely managed to round the next corner before someone opened fire on her.

Bullets tore through the air as Ruby gave a surprised yelp and quickly leapt for cover. "Blake, Yang, covering fire! Weiss, ice that hallway!"

Her team moved without hesitation. Blake and Yang emerged from their cover and immediately blasted whoever was shooting at them with a searing combination of pistol fire and shotgun blasts. The enemy fire lessened and Weiss performed a quick gesture, summoning a Glyph on the wall opposite of the enemy.

Shortly thereafter, the summoned a massive hailstorm that tore through the hallway and erupted on the other side, pinning down their foes.

"Move!" Ruby shouted. Her Semblance kicked in and she traversed the several meters of hall within a heartbeat. The immense built-up of speed came to a sudden end as she smashed into the first bad guy, feet first, sending him flying into the iced wall.

Ice crystals shattered and the steel wall dented.

Ruby took in the appearance of her foes with a single glance. Black armor, non-reflecting visors and large assault rifles. Onyx soldiers. The so-called best of the best.

They didn't look best of the best to Ruby though, because one of them was now pinned to the wall behind a thick layer of ice that covered his limbs, while the second one was slowly crawling back to his feet.

Ruby frowned. She wasn't the type to hurt anyone while they were down, but these soldiers wouldn't hesitate to kill them all. Not because they were evil or insane, but because they honestly thought it was the best thing to do. They didn't know any better.

Hoping that it would only hurt for a short moment, Ruby struck at the first soldier with her scythe. However, he was still faster than she had thought and caught the weapon before it could gain the speed needed to knock him down.

The second soldier ripped himself free from the thick layer of ice that could hold an Ursa down and moved to catch Ruby in her side-

-only for Yang to appear out of nowhere and punch him so hard in the face that his head smashed through the ice crystals on the wall before the rest of his body did.

Ruby smirked and pulled the trigger on her weapon, sending it rocketing the other way around in a heartbeat. She doubted she would see the look of surprise on her enemy's face as she usually did, but the result was all the same. Her weapon smashed into his head from the other side and sent him flying down the second hallway.

The second soldier wasn't down for the count yet, because he quickly snatched a knife from his hip and attacked Yang. He was remarkably quick on his feet, yet struck with enough force to send Yang reeling.

Blake and Weiss immediately went after the first one, knowing that he would be getting up as well.

Ruby activated her Semblance and joined her sister in the brawl against the Onyx soldier. As fast as he was, he couldn't risk properly countering Ruby's erratic movements because Yang would then knock him to the ground. One on one he might have won, but Ruby quickly cut his Aura down to size and stopped the second she drew blood, allowing Yang to cut loose without fully facing his counter offensive.

The last strike carved a trail across his back and even as the soldier whirled around to try and nail Ruby before she could blurt away again, Yang hit him with a hook so wicked that Ruby couldn't help but wince. The soldier slammed into the closest wall one more time and then slid to the ground, unmoving.

Weiss and Blake had managed to dispatch their enemy without trouble as well. Ruby and Yang approached them just as Blake slammed her knee down against the back of the soldier's head, knocking him out as well.

Ruby frowned, remembering how Will had told her that killing was much easier than simply taking someone alive. Mercy was always punished on the battlefield, he had told her. But as she looked at the prone figure of the Onyx trooper, she wondered if that was true. She nodded at Weiss, who instantly knelt down and removed the soldier's badly-damaged helmet. She then gently rolled him on his back, revealing to the team what Ruby had already known.

A young girl, perhaps even younger than Jaune. She had freckles, just like Penny, but her hair was much shorter and much darker. A trickle of blood ran from her nose, as well as the corner of her mouth, but she was still breathing.

Blake became pale and looked away, while Yang looked like she _couldn't_ look away. "And then Ironwood wants to execute the poor bastards," she quietly said. "I wonder if he ever looked behind their faceplates."

"He wouldn't care," Blake whispered. "Pull back the mask of the average White Fang member, and you get the same."

"But the White Fang weren't abducted when they were little kids," Weiss countered. "Most of them simply…joined."

"It doesn't matter," Ruby then said, cutting their conversation off before they might stumble upon a disagreement. "Just remember who we're fighting. We might show mercy, but they won't. So when it comes down to it…" She didn't finish, knowing that her team would understand

The four of them moved deeper into the carrier, encountering another patrol in the dark hallways. The cramped quarters didn't work in their favour, but Yang didn't seem bothered by her. Most of their close-quarters tactics consisted out of setting their enemy up for a good beating by the bashful blonde, and it worked like a charm.

"Your sarge forgot to teach you about blunt force trauma!" Yang yelled as she punched the last Onyx trooper out.

Blake shot her a glare. "Really?"

"What?" Yang said with a shrug. "Just trying to lighten the mood."

Blake sighed. "Fine…"

Someone moved behind Yang.

"Watch out!" Weiss shouted, moving before anyone else did. One of the Onyx soldiers that Blake had supposedly taken care of suddenly burst into motion, dragging out a combat knife from somewhere at his ankles.

Yang barely managed to turn around before Weiss struck, driving Myrtenaster through her enemy's abdomen and stropping him in his tracks.

Acting on instinct and reflexes, Yang backhanded the soldier across his face and shoved him off of the rapier's blade against the ground. He clutched his bleeding abdomen, where the sharp rapier had cleanly punched through his protective armor, and grunted, but he still tried to get up.

"Son of a…" Yang muttered something under her breath and placed her foot against the soldier's chest, pushing him back to the ground. "You little fuck! You don't attack people from behind!"

Weiss quickly took her hand before Yang could empty Ember Celica into the wounded soldier's face. There was no way she could have stopped Yang physically, not with her strength, but she didn't need to. The gesture alone was more than enough.

"And _you_ don't execute people when they're down!" Weiss sharply bit at her. "Look at him! He's not going anywhere."

Weiss was right. Myrtenaster had punched clean through the soldier's stomach, creating a small but very deep wound that might well run all the way through his body.

Just like she had done to Will.

Yang scowled, but lowered her fist. "Fine…and thanks. For having my back."

Weiss crossed her arms, looking like she was more angry with herself than with anyone else. "You just pay more attention next time."

With a quick glance, Ruby verified that the Onyx soldier was indeed down for the count. If not given medical attention, he would most likely bleed to death…and they didn't carry anything with them that might help him. Stupid!

It looked like Weiss was about to have her first human kill. A blemish on her reputation, no doubt. Weiss had always been very vocal about not using excess force against human enemies, and as far as Ruby knew, Weiss had also never mortally wounded anyone.

Was this what being a Huntress was about? Killing people who were only doing their job? Who didn't know any better?

"We should move," Ruby softly said. "I don't hear any alarms, but I don't want to face an entire army."

Nobody disagreed, and before soon, team RWBY was on the move.

~0~

* * *

 **Inside Onyx Foundation aircraft carrier [CLASSIFIED]**

With footsteps that echoed faintly behind him, Will slowly stalked through the dark hallways of the Onyx airbase, keeping his hand on his sword's handle as he pushed on. His suit's integrity was compromised, badly, by the resulting detonation of an entire fuel tank worth of fuel. Shrapnel had torn through the backside, but miraculously enough, he hadn't been wounded by it. After all the abuse and wounds his lack of Aura caused him, it came as an honest surprise.

He was wondering when his luck would change.

" _There is nobody here,"_ Ancilla whispered to him in the back of his mind. Her voice sounded distant, like it came from underwater, or beyond a thick mist. " _Keep going strong."_

The ex-Operative felt so tired. Even if he disregarded the intense fighting to get to the carrier, the point-blank explosion that propelled him into its frame and the narrow race to get to the craft's lower section before its wheels had fully folded inside, he just felt tired.

After years of nonstop fighting, paranoia and madness, it felt like his head wouldn't take anymore. He was certain that, without Ancilla, he would be a very simple-minded individual, incapable of processing stress. He only ever endured.

Yang was better than him, in so many regards. She took the things that hurt her, and used them to _mess up_ the things that hurt her. She only ever grew stronger, while he was starting to grow weaker. Finally, it seemed, he had found the reason why people loved Huntresses and Huntsmen, while at the same time loathing people like him.

It was because people like him _should_ be loathed. But that would change, once he had finally fulfilled his promise. No more fighting, no more killing. Finally, he would be at peace.

Retiring before ever hitting adulthood. An attractive prospect.

"What will you do," he softly spoke, "when you awake at Beacon?"

She giggled, but there was a faint echo behind her voice. Almost like…she wasn't alone. " _That is easy. I am going to restore your soul, put on clothes befitting of a lady and dance in the rain, like I always wanted to."_

Will smiled. "Dancing in the rain? What if you catch a cold?"

" _I hope I do! If so, I can ask Yang to keep me warm. I can eat soup, and drink tea, and wash out the disgusting taste of the chemicals."_

As he came to understand that last remark, he felt his smile slowly fade away. "Chemicals?" He asked. "What chemicals?"

" _The cold ones, silly!"_

"I don't understand-"

" _Can't you feel them? Concentrate, William. Feel the cold bite of Onyx's attempt to keep me leashed."_

Her sudden enthusiasm was unnerving, but he was just so _glad_ to hear her voce, so filled with _hope_ , that he chose not to notice it. He did as she asked him to, steadying his breath. She was right; the air was rather chilly. But he couldn't see his breath yet, so it wasn't-

" _Close your eyes."_

His body instinctively did as she asked and he closed his eyes, against the better judgement he once possessed.

The hairs on his neck prickled.

 _A flash of white, frost-coated and blurry._

A shiver ran down his spine.

 _Shapes moved beyond the prison that contained her essence. Their souls were shining, but weakly so._

His legs trembled. Something was wrong.

 _The foul trail of unnatural chemicals flowed through her veins, keeping her in a trancelike state, near death, but never graced by it. Her heart lingered on. So did her soul._

He felt himself slipping away, and reached for the wall to brace himself.

 _She felt so close…to be reconnected with herself, to be freed of the tyranny of this pitiful existence…if she could just…_ _ **let go.**_

 _ **...**_

Will gasped and opened his eyes again, but when he did, he was no longer traversing the length of a military carrier. In fact, he was lying on the ground. Strange. Had he fallen down again? Clumsy.

The ex-Operative slowly rose to his feet, noticing something wasn't quite the same way he had left it. Where were the steel walls? The dark corridors?

…were those paintings?

Will forgot about his current situation and walked up towards what looked like a wall made out of wood, with several masterful pieces of art attached to them. He saw what looked like a rose, but not the creepy ones with the same color as human blood. This one was stark white, like it had been frozen in a harsh winter night.

He stared at the painting, vaguely aware that such a thing wasn't meant to be here. "What?"

~0~

* * *

Yang raised her fist to signal the team to stop. "Do you hear someone giggling?"

Blake shot her a worried glance. "Ehm…no? Did you…did you _hear_ anyone giggling?"

Yeah…yeah she did. "I…yes, you didn't?"

Weiss and Ruby exchanged a quick look. "Not really," Ruby replied. "You didn't happen to hit your head, did you?"

Rolling with her eyes, Yang said, "Still just the one time, alright? I'm serious! I just heard someone giggling, and I think it was a girl!"

"There's only one girl aboard this ship who would giggle," Blake slowly said. "You think it was Alice?"

Yang shook her head. "'Course not. Wait, Alice can _giggle?"_

An awkward pause followed.

"Sometimes," Blake then honestly replied.

"I don't…when?"

Blake shrugged. "When she's delirious, or having too much fun? I don't know. She did it in her sleep, that one time."

Weiss glared at the two of them. "No, we did _not_ hear anyone giggling. Blake, did you?"

With a shake of her head, Blake confirmed the Heiress' suspicions.

"Maybe it's stress?" Ruby then tried, but Yang wouldn't have any of that.

"Guys, I know what I heard! I'm not going crazy, alright?"

"You probably heard wrong," Blake replied. "Or maybe I just missed it. Can we just keep moving? I don't want to be stuck here when it goes wrong."

Ruby nodded. "Yup, we probably shouldn't stick arouuuuun…." Her voice slowly trailed off, and she looked at Blake. "Wait, you said ""when"."

"I did?"

"Yes. You said "when" and not "if". How do you know something is going to go wrong?"

Blake frowned. "I…" she too trailed off, and she looked away, as if nervous. "Just….just a feeling."

"Something you want to share?" Ruby pressed the issue.

"No, I…just a funny feeling."

Ruby nodded. "Hmm…right at the nape of your neck?"

"Yeah. How do you-?"

"Because I felt it, too. Professor Adamant once told me that Aura doesn't always warn us of physical danger. Sometimes, a place, or even a person can feel just wrong."

"So I _did_ hear something!" Yang exclaimed. "If your Aura is telling you to watch out-"

"I am not generally one to trust something as banal as _instinct_ ," Weiss the interrupted, "But I _just_ felt the same thing. Can we move, please?"

Funny…Yang hadn't felt a thing. Still, she was glad that she wasn't going crazy. Or at least, that she wasn't the only one going crazy. She shrugged, and then allowed Weiss to take the lead. She did wonder though; why hadn't _her_ Aura told her that something was wrong? Or had it just messed with her ears to tell her that?

Why?

~0~

* * *

Will observed the canvas more closely, noticing that it wasn't very detailed. Literally; there weren't any details. It looked devoid of deeper meaning, like it wasn't really finished. Or like…

Well, like a bad memory.

"Huh…" Now he wasn't one to question odd things, and the appearance of a somewhat familiar art gallery didn't really bother him that much. But he _definitely_ knew this art gallery. Or, he should know it. The knowledge was there, but he couldn't access it. He was left with the sensation of a fading dream that didn't quite disappear.

He looked around, noticing that the interior of the carrier had changed indefinitely. It was a welcome change, that was for certain, but this wasn't supposed to happen.

"Ancilla?"

There was no answer.

"Ancilla, are you there?"

Nothing. Nothing stirred beyond hid consciousness, nothing guided him with a supernatural instinct. His head felt light and empty, and not in the good way. Her presence was gone, but it had left something behind.

This memory? Was it hers?

Problematic.

Still, Will very much doubted this was an actual hallucination. He didn't feel any fear or confusion, no dread and no uncertainty. Everything was normal, except that the military aircraft carrier had become one giant art gallery.

He shrugged. He had seen weirder things.

~0~

* * *

Ancilla found herself in the empty halls of the crude, rudimentary prison that the best equipment and technology of humanity's best and brightest had turned the large airship into. Voices were whispering to her in a language that she didn't understand. She was oddly accepting of this, and figured that she was dreaming.

Her surroundings were…odd…to say the least. A large, marble room, with no windows, doors or even discernible details save for a large sword that lay right in front of her. It had a beautiful blade, dark-purple and shimmering with power.

Ancilla was surprised to see that she was sitting on her knees. What was even more surprising was the young woman sitting in front of her, mirroring her posture.

She was naked, with a pale skin, petite frame and incredibly long hair. Beautiful, young, but eerily calm. Why was she looking at the sword like that-?

As if sensing Ancilla eyeing her, the girl looked up. Her eyes shimmered with a terrifying purple glow, cruel beyond comparison.

Ancilla gasped and the girl smiled. An innocent smile, made a thousand times worse by the unparalleled malice and cruelty in her eyes.

It took her a while to realize who this girl was.

Her.

Surrounded by corpses.

Ancilla was trembling as she looked around the white room, which was no longer empty. Bodies, mercilessly torn apart and ripped asunder, lined the floor, bleeding and motionless.

She felt the trickle of warm tears, rolling down her cheeks.

And the girl was still amidst the carnage. She looked so serene, so in her element, while Ancilla was horrified and disgusted.

It wasn't fair.

This wasn't her!

The sound of the slap echoed loudly as Ancilla retracted her hand, shocked at her sudden loss of control. The girl opposite of her reached for her reddened cheek, silently.

Ancilla blinked.

The dark, featureless creature slowly leant over her shoulders. Its tall, skinny frame easily _towered_ over her.

Her reflection was nowhere to be found, and neither was the sword.

Of course they hadn't. They had never been there.

 _Over here_

She refused to acknowledge it. The Entity was always there, in the back of her mind, whispering horrible things at her. It knew everything about her, every dark secret, every trauma she had experienced. It was her hate and her love, her passion and her resentment.

Ancilla lowered her head, trying to ignore the Entity. Its many, slithering tentacles encroached upon her, covering the floor and slowly turning the beautiful marble floor into something filthy and corrupted.

 _Over here_

She wouldn't listen to it. It couldn't make her. _He_ hadn´t bowed to the Entity and neither would she.

But it would continue hurting him.

She wouldn't!

It wouldn't stop.

Ancilla gritted her teeth and closed her eyes, trying to stem the tears.

It was going to extinguish his soul. It had tried to, once before. Her death had not stopped it. Nothing would stop it.

She could.

Ancilla followed the Entity.

 _Over here_

She followed it to a sealed chamber, at the center of which lay a glass tube, reinforced with metal and plastic and fibers. Through the frost-covered, frozen glass plate, Ancilla could see the same young woman with long, white-blonde hair, sleeping peacefully. She was covered with nigh but a thin, white gown. Frost coated her face, and her chest wasn't moving.

The Entity spread its arms and the tentacles slowly extended across the room. The soldiers who were guarding her body nervously shifted their weight from one leg to another as they felt _something_ touch their soul.

 _Fear_

Ancilla looked at the soldiers. They were so heavily armed, so well equipped. Her Carrier wouldn't be able to fight them all, would he?

She glanced at the Entity, questioning.

It shook its featureless head.

William…her brave warrior. He wasn't going to win this. Not on his own. This place would be his tomb.

 _Fear_

Unless she came to his aid. But what could she do? What could she possibly do to help?

 _Make them fear_

There was one thing that Onyx was afraid of. One thing that the Foundation couldn't handle, an anomaly in the world. Young women like her, that didn't quite fit into the natural plane of existence.

Her.

Ancilla glanced at the soldiers, who were now actively searching the room. She narrowed her eyes, focusing on their essence, the very thing that kept their hearts steeled, their minds imprisoned. She could see their Aura, hauntingly beautiful and miserable. She could see the color and nature of their very souls.

She remembered the maliciousness of her reflection, the callous ease in which she had created the perfect world.

Her, alone among the dead.

Ancilla reached for the soul of the one who stood the closest to the machine that kept her body alive. She gently placed her hands on his shoulder, whispered to him.

The soldier grunted and reached for his head.

With a little smile, Ancilla tightened her hold on his soul and _squeezed,_ just a bit. She was starting to see, starting to understand. The colors of their Aura, the brilliant, magnificent shape of mankind's greatest weapon.

 _Her_ greatest weapon.

The soldier raised his weapon and opened fire on his allies. Without trust, without love, these people would tear each other apart given even the slightest incentive.

The Entity disappeared, satisfied.

Ancilla glanced at the fighting soldiers, hoping that they wound injure each other enough that they would not prove a threat to her Carrier anymore. Will was fighting his way through an army of his kindred souls. He wouldn´t last, not on his own. But, with her help, they might just make it though.

These doors, these…heavy, metal doors through which no force on Remnant could enter unhindered, they meant nothing to her. She denied their existence, and passed through them as if they did not even exist.

She extended the reach of her consciousness, feeling the multitude of bright, shining souls. First, with an almost casual nudge of her consciousness, she located her William. His soul was forever stained in the traumas he had undergone, forever crippled and blemished because of what Onyx had done to him. But the parts that were able to, shone even brighter for it. He was determined to find her.

Then, Ancilla felt something else.

A sudden burst of solid red. A brilliant shade of white. A beautiful hint of magenta. A bright flash of yellow. Four girls were making their way through the other side of the aircraft, fighting through a large group of the indoctrinated children with a combination of passionate teamwork and sheer determination. Enemies that felt no remorse, showed no mercy, but could only be saved through both.

Both groups of combatants were suffering, but the four girls were suffering mentally. Ancilla felt their guilt, _saw_ their hesitation. Their teamwork kept them alive, but their trepidation would be their undoing.

Ancilla displaced herself towards the center of the heavy fighting. Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang. A close friend, someone to protect, an enigma and a lover. They were to her what they were to Will and she would not see them hurt.

Their skills were magnificent to watch, but even the mightiest warrior needed a shoulder to lean on.

The Catalyst reached for their souls, students and soldiers alike, and shared with them her way of seeing the world. She allowed one of her strongest memories to take over, displacing the cold interior of the Onyx craft with that of a beautiful, welcoming art gallery. Somewhere within the back of her mind, she felt William ease up, as he recognized the sudden world he now found himself inhabiting.

The result was…interesting, to say the least.

As if it were an assault on their senses, all ten combatants reeled and the fighting stopped as suddenly as it started. Because the memory was a dozen years old, it was bound to be damaged in some regards. Perhaps it confused them. Perhaps they saw things that weren't meant to be there.

But that was bad! The Onyx soldiers, conditioned to feel no emotions in any situation, recovered from the sudden shock of finding themselves in an uncanny art gallery first and went on the offensive. The redoubling of their efforts, coupled with the sheer brutality and ferocity they displayed, rattled team RWBY.

Ancilla would not have that. She approached Yang, enveloped her Aura with her own and snuffed out her fear and confusion. She draped her arms around her shoulders and whispered in her ears.

~0~

* * *

Yang gasped as she felt the sudden touch of someone's arms around her shoulders. She risked a quick look over her shoulder, but saw nothing.

 _Don´t be afraid_

Impossible…completely impossible. Who the hell-

 _They won't defeat you_

Yang clenched her teeth and, as soon as one of those little bastards whirled around from his cover to open fire, she blasted him with two slugs of Ember Celica, sending him straight through one of the wooden walls that had so suddenly popped up in this new reality. She knew what she was hearing, and it meant that they were doing the right thing.

~0~

* * *

Oh how she wished she could reach out and _touch_ Yang, feel her own skin brush against hers. But as it was now, this was the best she could

Still, Ancilla could barely contain her elation as she watched Yang pummel one of her opponents with a well-placed ranged attack. Playing with one's senses was easy enough when you could feel what they thought, touch what they experienced. But even with that advantage, even with that handicap, the four girls were still having an extremely difficult time actually getting past their opponents. These Onyx soldiers were very well trained.

A more thorough approach might be necessary.

The Catalyst reached out and increased her grip on reality, while at the same time loosening that of the souls around her.

~0~

* * *

Weiss grunted as several bullets narrowly missed her left calf. She took Myrtenaster and, using one of her Glyphs, sent one of the enemies straight through the painting of a black flower and into the wall behind it.

But others were there to take his place and soon, the Heiress was forced to leap for cover again. As more bullets rushed past her head, burying themselves into the wooden frame that she was using for cover, something very strange happened. Stranger than the sudden appearance of a museum section in the middle of their fight. The lights flickered and someone appeared in the middle of the room. The three closest soldiers immediately reached and, much to Weiss' shock, immediately riddled the person with bullets.

Except they harmlessly passed through her, as if the person wasn't there. Her long, white-blonde hair reached to her hips, flowing oddly in the stale air. With several decisive steps, she moved towards the center of the room, where she quickly gained the attention of the other child soldiers. At least, those still conscious.

Weiss couldn't believe what she saw. She thought that perhaps Onyx had filled the interior of this vessel with a hallucinogenic gas to help fend off the raid, but that idea was now obsolete. Delusions weren't shared, hallucinations were not contagious.

The girl glanced at Weiss. At the same time, a voice echoed through her head, strained and vaguely familiar.

 _Move_

Without intending to, the Heiress obeyed, and she covered the left flank with a thick layer of ice to aid her teammates in hastily crossing this section. They quickly joined her and together, the four of them launched a counterattack to break through the Onyx lines.

Between this mysterious entity messing with their perception of reality and the flawlessly-executed techniques from team RWBY, the Onyx soldiers didn't stand a chance. Ruby disarmed one with a flurry of slashes from her scythe, depleted the remaining tethers of his Aura and then delivered a brutal strike to his head, cleanly knocking him out.

Weiss summoned a Glyph to stop her own chosen enemy in his tracks and then summoned seven other ones to allow her to stay mobile. From a position in the middle of the air, she launched herself at her foe and struck him in the center of his chest. She immediately leapt for the next Glyph, blisteringly-fast and perfectly accurate. The soldier was unable to properly counter her and in the span of a second, she chained together seven crippling strikes, sending the soldier flying against the ceiling. When he fell down, Weiss switched the revolving mechanism on her rapier with practiced ease and summoned one last Glyph, increasing the force with which the young trooper impacted threefold.

Excess force against any normal opponent, but against these enemies, she dared not use a lesser approach.

Blake and Yang worked together to take out the last three soldiers. With swift, crushing blows and lightning-fast slashes, they disarmed the three Onyx children and went on the offensive. Blake used her Semblance to trick one of her foes and ended up behind him, whereupon she wrapped the ribbon of her weapon around his neck and pulled him over her shoulder and towards the floor, with enough force to dent it. Then she unsheathed her sword and defended herself against a second soldier, before whirling behind his back, knocking him away and shooting the first soldier several times in his legs, swiftly taking him out of the fight.

She returned her focus to the second one, as did Yang, who had just finished punching her own opponent through one of the walls. Together, they easily overwhelmed the last Onyx soldier in close quarters. Blake launched him skyward with a well-timed strike using her cleaver and Yang swiftly kicked him against his head, knocking him out as well.

With their enemies down for the count, Weiss was finally free to shift her focus to the problem at hand. "Please tell me that I am _not_ the only one who is currently seeing an art gallery?"

~0~

* * *

Will stared at the canvas containing the image of what had once been a thriving, beautiful little village in Mistral. Overrun many years ago, though this was exactly how he remembered it. It was such a shame. Mankind had suffered so much at the hands of the Grimm, committed to such terrible deeds all for the sake of a respite.

He himself was the result of such desperation, while Ancilla had been the victim of it. He had often wondered what the line between good and evil was, where the grey between black and white lay. How far could you go before you were too far gone, and how far gone did you have to be before there was no turning back?

Will looked to his right, where he caught the distant rumbling of explosions. He wasn't alone in this place, relief. There was someone else standing here, a dozen meters away, tops. She was intently staring at the last canvas that could be observed before this gallery ended.

He knew who she was, recognized her long, white-blonde hair and slender frame despite having never physically laid eyes upon it before, and his careful pace quickly turned into a sprint. He reached out for her shoulder and took it, elated to finally lay eyes upon the girl who had freed him from the cruel fate of being just another mindless killer and made him into who he now was.

"Ancilla!" He exclaimed. His hand found her bare shoulder, but couldn't grasp it. A thin layer of… _something_ protected her. He couldn't touch her.

The girl turned to face him, and met his gaze. Her eyes, one a deep shade of sapphire and the other a bright hint of emerald, locked with his and a tender smile played over her beautiful features.

"Hello," she whispered to him. Her voice was just like he remembered it, except many times more beautiful now that she could directly speak to him. Merely hearing her eased his worries and soothed his exhaustion. "My little Operative."

Will looked at her and he wanted to embrace her and touch her and feel her skin against his and _hear_ her laughter in his ears -but reason, and perhaps a little bit of instinct, stopped him. "You're here," he whispered. He just now saw that Ancila wasn't wearing any clothes. Wasn't she cold? "How are you here?"

Sadness crept through her smile, which slowly faded away. "I am not. Not truly."

"What?"

She turned back towards the painting on the wall. "They're coming for you. All four of them."

Will didn't understand. He looked at the painting, hoping that it would somehow give him the insight needed to make sense of this situation.

It was a portrait, but only in the loose sense that he lacked the vocabulary to properly describe it. It detailed Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang in what looked like a fiery battlefield, with their backs to each other and their weapons at the ready. Their expressions were fierce and their muscles rigid, like indominable maidens of war. A few bodies lay on the ground around them, but most of them weren't bleeding. More apparently-hostile people were attacking them from outside the frame, but the way this painting had been made, it didn't look like they would find any success.

The way team RWBY was depicted, Will doubted even _he_ could go up against them and emerge victorious. They looked beautiful and dangerous, every bit the warrior that he and Alice were.

"They made it," he whispered. "All four of them?" He looked at Ancilla gain. "Explain, please. How do you know this?"

Ancilla didn't look away from the canvas. "There is no language on Remnant that can explain what is taking place on this airship, except, perhaps, that of the Grimm."

Will nervously shifted his weight from his left leg to his right. "Can you try?

She nodded. "You are, all of you, living my lucid dream."

~0~

* * *

Yang looked around her strange surroundings, failing to recognize a single part of it. "No, I'm seeing it too," she said. "Are we dreaming? Did our ship crash or something?"

"A shared dream by all four of us?" Ruby replied. "No, I don't think so. Unless we all secretly performed a Bonding Ritual together."

"And yet here we are, sharing the same hallucination," Blake said. "Just to be certain. That canvas, over there?" She gestured at the closest piece of art hanging on the wall. "What do you see?"

Weiss was the first to answer after a brief hesitation. "A frozen lake-"

Nodding, Ruby added, "With a hole in the middle-"

"and trees surrounding it," Yang finished.

"Exactly," Blake concluded. "So whatever we are seeing, has to be real."

Yang recalled some of Will's episodes, including the one Ruby had told her about. "Or our minds make it real."

"That…is a frightening possibility," Weiss nervously said. "Are we being brainwashed or something? Is someone trying to take over our minds?"

"No," Yang immediately said. The rest of the team turned to look at her. "I know that this isn't someone trying to harm us."

Weiss crossed her arms, clearly skeptical. "How?"

"Because I can _feel_ it. Back during our fight? Those Onyx soldiers were slow, much too slow. Remember Ash, during the Breach? Or Cal? Those guys are fast." Yang looked at her partner. "Ash was even faster than Blake. Whatever is going on here, they can see it too."

Weiss seemed like she wanted to say something. Ruby noticed it, and called her out. "Weiss? Something on your mind?"

Weiss hesitated, then straightened her back, as if steeling herself. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I do. When we were fighting, I…saw something. A girl, walking through the gallery."

Blake gasped. "You saw that?"

"Yes, me too," Ruby exclaimed. "I thought it was just me!"

"Let me finish," Weiss said, her voice laced with agitation. "Those Onyx soldiers started shooting at her. But they didn't harm her -the rounds went straight through her, like she wasn't there."

Now it was Blake's turn to skeptically cross her arms. "Are you saying it was a ghost?"

"No," Yang slowly said. "Not a ghost…a soul. Better yet, the manifestation of someone's Aura."

"Like my Semblance?"

"Maybe…or something much stronger." Yang wondered if anyone could be so strong as to pull it off though. "What if this is someone's Semblance? A mass hallucination, trying to throw off our enemies and help us?"

~0~

* * *

The Operative blinked. "I…what?"

"A lucid dream is not unlike a nightmare. Except, within it, you have complete and total control. Every action you take directly reflects on the entities present within the dream." She looked away from the portrait and met his eyes again. "The human soul is a strange thing, William. Keeping it separated so long from its main vessel…and then _reuniting_ it…such a deed was never meant to happen."

"So you dragged this ship within your dream…but how are you controlling it?"

"Hmm…how, I wonder? Aura has a color, did you know that? To those tuned to its presence, the true beauty behind a soul becomes visible." She giggled. "I always wondered what your soul looked like."

Will doubted he wanted to know. He suddenly felt a sting of embarrassment, despite having no reason to. "So how do I get you out here? Where do I find you?"

Ancilla raised her arm and pointed to their right, where the art gallery suddenly didn't look like that much of a gallery anymore. Steel walls, dark corridors.

"There are others here as well," Ancilla then said.

"Others?"

"They are like you. Their souls are bright, and won't be kept calm."

Other Operatives. He had hoped it wouldn't come to this. He didn't know if he could get past them without a fight…but even if he did, they might end up facing team RWBY. There _would_ be casualties.

"Be careful," Ancilla told him. "Be _very_ careful."

Will nodded, understanding perfectly why that was. Ancilla's soul no longer resided within him. His Semblance wouldn't be working properly on its own; reckless behavior would get him killed.

"Stay safe," she called after him as he made his way towards the obvious interior of the carrier.

Safe...he would like that. But not yet. Right now, he was going to ensure that absolutely nobody who stood in his way was going to feel safe. Her backstabbing aside, Cinder Fall had been right. He _had_ been holding back, out of fear of what his loved ones would think of him if he didn't. Out of fear of hurting someone he wasn't supposed to hurt. But in here, he didn't have to worry about that. Team RWBY was probably far away from him now, and he wouldn't have to worry about anyone.

That line of thinking was put to the test a lot sooner than he had expected. Behind him, he heard the faint but distinctive sound of metal scraping over metal, followed by a suspicious lack of more sounds.

He looked over his shoulder and spotted the barest hint of movement, the faintest glint of a shadow.

 _Operatives._

Will broke into a flat sprint and so did the hostile stalking him. He had a head start, but his enemy had probably not spent the last few days slowly succumbing to a brain disease. They slowly gained on him, until he rounded a corner and spotted an elevator dead ahead, roughly two dozen meters. Doors flanked the hallway on either side, but he knew that he was meant to go _up_.

The closer he got to his goal, the closer his enemies came to _him_. Behind him, his stalker opened fire, spraying the hallway with short, controlled bursts of gunfire.

He unsheathed his sword and deflected the rounds that came his way, but wasn't quick enough to actually get them all. His suit was tough and built to deflect small arms fire, but it had been compromised during the harrowing fight to get inside of the carrier. As a result, the inevitable hit managed to shear away small sections of his armor, failing to penetrate but ruining the armor.

Will reached the elevator, silently hoping that it was stuck in this floor and not at the top, and was rewarded with the glorious *ding* of an opening set of doors.

He turned around and backed into the elevator, swiftly hitting the "up" button and staring down the enemy Operative just as the doors closed between them.

The ex-Operative exhaled in relief and allowed himself a brief moment of respite, slumping down against the wall and hoping that this would be the last he was going to see of the enemy Operatives.

And that was when they cut the power to the elevator, followed by cutting the cables to the elevator.

"You have got to be fucking kidding-"

Then, the entire thing plummeted.

~0~

* * *

A distant explosion rumbled through the ship, and Ruby had to brace herself against a nearby pillar. Then, not even a second later, the groaning sounds of metal striking metal echoed through the hallways. It sounded close. A lot closer than the explosion.

"What was that?" Weiss nervously asked.

"It sounded like something breaking," Blake replied. "Something that shouldn't be breaking."

Yang shrugged "We're still flying. Let's keep moving."

"Where to?" Weiss asked.

Ruby shrugged. "Towards the explosion? Best place to find Operatives."

"Exactly," Weiss deadpanned. "How do you know it's _ours_?"

"Ehm…I guess we'll find out."

"Gee. What a grand battle plan."

~0~

* * *

At the bottom of the elevator shaft, surrounded by broken and bent pieces of metal and plastic, ex-Operative William Greystone was silently and secretly living out a homicidal daydream inside of his head. He swore to himself, once he got his hands on this little fuck he would-

He swiftly grabbed his sword and sliced through the large plate of metal that came crashing down atop of him, narrowly managing to keep the piece of debris from landing on top of his head.

There was hostile contact, right above him. A feminine shape, clad in dark armor, complete with a nonreflective visor.

Will quickly crawled back to his feet, checked to see if his collapsible helmet was still intact, and then assumed a combat position.

The enemy Operative dropped down the shaft and landed opposite of him, a few meters away. She was decked out on heavier armor than he preferred to carry, and her left arm was bulkier than the right one. Up-armored, or a secret weapon?

"Where is she!" Will demanded.

The Operative assumed her own combat position, but otherwise remained silent.

"Where!"

"I've never killed defectors like us before," the girl replied. She spoke in a monotone voice, as if this whole situation didn't exist for her. " This should keep me distracted."

Will shifted his weight to his front leg and launched himself at the Operative, denting the floor underneath his feet as he kicked off. He was on her on the blink of an eye, aiming at her neck with a diagonal cut. As the aggressor, he was faster, and had every advantage in reach.

Still she was faster. Something erupted from that damn left arm with a yellow flash and what felt like an entire car rammed into his body, sending him skidding back over the floor and crashing into the wall on the other side again.

Will slammed his fist against the floor in frustration and jumped back to his feet again. What had she just hit him with?

The girl just stood there, passively. Not even bothering to go on the counterattack. She had to be stalling for time. He wasn't going to play along.

He approached her again, slower this time, with his sword in front of him. When he was a few feet away, he swept at her right arm, then immediately sidestepped and went for her left one instead.

Her response lasted for a fraction of a second. She moved, and a shimmering shield sprang out of her left arm, large enough to protect her head, torso and lower legs. She battered aside his sword and lashed out with her right arm at the opening she had created, but Will caught her in the act and immediately jumped backwards to avoid the strike.

The shield instantly collapsed again and just like that, all traces of its existence had been erased

A weapon that instantly summoned a shield powerful enough to block a blade like his. The perfect way to stall for time that he did not have. He needed to wrap this up fast.

The enemy slowly walked towards him and Will readied himself for another inevitable clash. The next two minutes were spent trying to find an opening in her formidable defense. He rolled around to avoid strikes aimed at his face, leapt over the girl to try and nail her from behind, tested her reach in all possible directions and then started testing the shield itself for weaknesses.

Slowly, the frustration and exhaustion started making way for the inevitable bloodlust, and Will didn't bother to suppress it. He stopped checking his own openings and continued to attack with increasing ferocity and aggression, causing deep, gaping wounds in the floor and walls whenever his blade didn't quite find its mark.

His blood was pounding, his exhaustion had dissipated. He took aim at every exposed piece of the Operative's body, be it her feet, her hands or the top of her head. He had yet to draw her blood, but he was getting close.

Another clear hit on her left forearm was rebounded before his sword could carve through her armor. Damnit, how much Aura did she have?

Gunfire erupted from the top of the shaft and for a split second, Will felt his heart leap.

 _They found me._

That hope was swiftly curbed when the hail of fire was promptly shifted towards him instead of the enemy.

Will cursed under his breath and moved to protect himself from the deadly storm of projectiles. Alice would have _laughed_ and cut apart the offending hostiles, and gotten off on it too.

The enemy Operative didn't like the stray bullets that pinged off her own Aura though, as she quickly folded her shield and leapt for the wall, before kicking off and grabbing a nearby ledge.

"Oh no you don't," Will growled, before leaping after her. She jumped several meters in the air and braced herself against the next section of the elevator shaft just before he could hit her though, and he quickly moved to give chase.

The two Operatives came higher and higher, and the soldiers who were trying to nail him with gunfire became increasingly-more accurate.

But while the shieldbearer was obviously stronger than he was, he was still faster. At long last, right before she could grab the ledge where two Onyx soldiers were taking their shots from, Will managed to grab her ankle.

Even as the Operative looked down to glare at him, Will pulled himself up and took a swipe at the two other soldiers. They backed away, the shealdbearer prepared to bash him with her shield-

-and Will ran his sword through her shoulder, temporarily pinning her to the wall. She grunted in annoyance as he used his momentum to swing over her and into the open room at the top, freeing his sword again in the process.

She pulled herself up and over the ledge as well, intent on trapping him between her and the two Onyx soldiers, but she forgot one thing.

Ancilla's presence surprised and confused the Onyx soldiers, who seemed to lack the mental barriers that the Operative had. They took aim and opened fire, while Will immediately hit the deck.

The gunfire forced the shield-wielding Operative to protect herself with that impenetrable barrier of hers, but stuck in the narrow hallway as she was, she was unable to protect herself when Will jumped back to his feet and intercepted her.

In the brief lull between the two Onyx soldiers trying to clear their heads, reload their weapons and target the right Operative, Will chained together several strikes that pushed the girl back towards the open entrance of the elevator shaft, now minus the elevator.

He withdrew his sword, watched as the girl attempted to stabilize herself and then mimicked the same move he had seen Yang pull off, spinning on his heels and slamming his boot against the Operative's face with a well-executed roundhouse kick.

Will smiled in satisfaction as the other Operative plummeted down the elevator shaft again, before turning to face the two remaining soldiers. He was glad to know that, despite everything that had to be going on with her mind right now, Ancilla still had his back.

~0~

* * *

The team exited the last exhibit and promptly stumbled across what looked like a large observation room. The left side was dominated by a massive window with a good view on the room below, while the right side of the observation room was filled with all kinds of consoles and machines.

But no Will, and no Alice. Even worse; the art gallery seemed to have faded away. They were back in the carrier now.

Blake frowned. She could have sworn that the sounds of combat that the team had been following came from here. "I…I was certain it was this room."

Ruby placed a hand on her shoulder to reassure her. "Don't worry. We'll find them."

After they made sure that the room was indeed devoid of enemies, Ruby and Weiss walked up towards the strange array of screens, which were still displaying information.

Yang sighed and grabbed her Scroll, no doubt to try and contact him again.

Meanwhile, Blake walked up towards the window. She noticed a series of cracks in the upper left, with a small hole in the center.

A bullet hole. This was where the noise had been coming from.

Blake immediately felt her hopes rise and peered through the window, hoping that she hadn't been leading the team on a wild goose chase.

She hadn't. The room below looked like a large training room of some sort, but it was most definitely _not_ used for training. Three individuals were fighting a devastating fight down there, two of them ganging up on the third. Swords clashed, firearms erupted and grenades detonated, but neither of them seemed to have the advantage over the other.

Blake was shocked by the sheer ferocity that the combatants displayed. They literally threw themselves against each other with such speed and force that the metal hull of the room was literally starting to fall apart.

It was a nasty realization for Blake, that Adam would have most likely approved of this display of viciousness. Had these people been Faunus, Adam would have been beaming with pride.

She shook that image off. "I found him!"

Weiss, Ruby and Yang immediately joined her at the observation window.

"That's Will down there, but where's Alice?"

Yang slammed her fist against the window, but it didn't budge. The three combatants, however, noticed them. One of them immediately opened fire on the window and team RWBY collectively leapt away from the window.

The last thing Blake saw before she activated her Semblance on instinct and dove for cover, was Will using the confusion to make a break for the next room, while the other enemy followed him, guns blazing.

"Cover me!" Yang snapped. "I'm going in!"

"Wait," Weiss suddenly shouted, and the entire group grinded to a halt before anyone could do something impulsive.

"What?" Yang demanded.

"This ship possesses a wealth of knowledge! We should at least try to copy it!"

"We don't have time for data, Weiss! You saw that fight, Will needs our help!"

"Yang is right," Ruby quickly said, perhaps sensing her sister's anger and desperation. "But so is Weiss. Blake, you and Yang will push ahead. I'll cover Weiss and help her copy this information. Maybe someone back at Onyx can decrypt it."

Yang scowled, but evidently saw the logic behind Ruby's advice. "Fine. But hurry! Separating is the last thing we want to do in here!"

"I know. Go on, we'll catch up!"

Blake casted one last concerned look at her teammates before hurrying after her partner, who had already leapt through the broken window and was now rushing down towards the other end of the open room down below.

No Operatives to stop her.

"Yang, wait!" Blake yelled. "Slow down!"

"I'm not losing someone else!" Yang shot back. "Not again!"

"He can handle himself better than you!" Blake countered.

That got Yang's attention alright. She skidded to a sudden halt and whirled around, fixing Blake with an enraged glare. "What the hell is that supposed to mean!"

Blake sighed. It was no secret that Yang had problems handling her emotions, but she had hoped that they would have at least had more time. "What do you think will happen when Will and Ancilla get out of here alive, only to learn that you died in the attack?"

That remark hit home. Yang visibly flinched.

"Or," Blake continued, "If any of _us_ died trying to cover you? He's not alone, Yang. You know that better than anyone."

"But he _is_ alone!" Yang snapped. "Blake, he's been doing this on his own for months!"

"Because he was _made_ to do this on his own! You've trained four years to get where you are now, he ten! If not more!"

That little unpleasant but truthful fact managed to get Yang's attention proper. "You're forgetting that he's sick, Blake. If he wavers even _once_ , he's dead! You can't expect me to-"

"I'm not! Really, I'm not. Just _wait_ for the rest of us before you go charging off."

Yang scowled. "Fine. Just stay close."

~0~

* * *

Will ducked and dodged the trooper's roundhouse kick, retaliating with two lightning-fast jabs that cracked his foe's armor. He intercepted a counterattack, whipped his own arm over theirs and pinned it to his shoulder. He then lashed out with an open palm strike to their solar plexus, knocking the air of his foe.

He then shifted his weight to his hind leg and reared backwards, dodging the sword that was aimed at his throat. His opponent's arm moved with him, but was unable to handle the stress on its bones and the limb broke.

Immediately, Will let go of the now-useless limb and spun behind the soldier as he clutched his broken limb. He slammed his elbow against his spine and knocked him against the second soldier, sending both of them stumbling. He then drew his own sword, battered aside his foe's weapon and cut him down.

The second soldier barely had the time to recover before Will jumped at him and slammed his heel against his face, knocking him down to the ground.

A quick stomp to his throat ensured that he would stay down, at least for a while.

Will then whipped his blade through the air and assumed a defensive position, ready for more.

There weren't any. The two Onyx soldiers lay unmoving on the ground and the two Operatives hadn't caught up to him yet.

The ex-Operative allowed himself to savor the moment of victory for a split-second before he focused on the task at hand. He was so close now. This carrier had apparently been built around one central chamber, which contained the advanced system responsible for keeping Ancilla in an artificial coma. There were multiple ways in and out of that room, but all of them were heavily guarded.

Will moved towards the next door, opened it up and was very nearly shot in the face by a very active stationary turret. He cursed loudly and deflected the heavy caliber rounds with his odachi, backpedaling all the while.

He quickly sheathed his sword again to allow his suit to recharge the sheath's launching mechanism. Those rounds would absolutely wreck his compromised armor, and he didn't possess the equipment to shut it down. Maybe one of the troopers had-

The door behind him opened and Will slowly turned around, not even bothering to check if somehow, Ruby and her team had caught up to him.

The two Operatives casually wandered inside, having only barely been kept back by his attempts to seal off the entrances behind him.

Will seriously considered testing his luck with the turret. At least it wouldn't make the fight personal. These guys though? Apparently, they really didn't like him. It must be the publicity that he had accidentally caused the Onyx Foundation.

Well, the feeling was mutual.

The two took their team spreading out and encircling him. One of them was a male duel-wielding katanas, just like Alice did, while the other was a female with the most wicked-looking whip he had ever seen, and that included the ones wielded by the more sensual Huntresses he had encountered on the battlefield.

This was bad. He was almost all out of stimulants; he only had one of the painkillers left and he wanted to save them for when he pulled Ancilla from the system. No doubt Onyx had rigged the system to be excruciating for her upon removal.

In fact, using the painkillers now would be a stupid move at best, and a lethal one at worst. Pain kept him focused, reminded him of how he ought to be fighting. Arguably his only advantage over these guys.

Will slowly exhaled, allowing a lifetime of training and conditioning to take over. He kept his gaze solely and the space between the two hostiles, lest he concentrate too much on one of them and allow the other an easy opening.

There was no warning of their impending assault, no sign that they would strike, yet Will moved a split-second after they burst into motion. The male flung himself at him with sufficient force to shatter the tiles underneath his feet and at the same time, the female disappeared into nothing as she unleashed her Semblance.

With a shout, Will drew his odachi and blocked the duel-katana strike, though the momentum behind his foe's strike still pushed him back several meters.

At almost the same time, the female appeared behind him, lashing out at him with her whip. Will immediately withdrew his left hand and deflected the strike that would have otherwise ripped his helmet off.

Still, the whip wrapped itself around his wrist and jerked it backwards, setting him up for another attack from the big guy.

The resulting blow sent Will flying through the interior of the chamber. He slammed his blade into the floor and it grinded him to a halt.

Growling, he got back to his feet. He didn't have time for this!

The female Operative appeared left to him and he moved with the reflexes that he had been consciously suppressing all the time at Beacon. He blocked her whip with his sword, then immediately shifted his focus to her other vectors of attack. For several tense seconds, he fended off the rapidly teleporting Operative, before being forced to focus on the male again, who seemed to take his time.

Another burst of gunfire forced all three of them to flinch and duck for cover. The turret didn't discriminate, and they had gotten too close to the entrance of the next room.

That gave Will an idea. His Aura had been sufficiently depleted that the weapon platform would cut him down in seconds. These guys still had plenty left.

He took another frontal attack of the sword-wielding Operative and fell down to the ground, clutching his bleeding side.

No healing for him. Well, he had plenty of blood left.

"Come on," he muttered under his breath. "Do it…"

The female took her cue and appeared right in front of him in a sudden flash. Will barely had the time to flinch before her barbed whip found its way around his collapsible helmet. The flexible plates were designed to flatten incoming small arms projectiles, not Hunter-grade weapons, and the resulting violence ripped half of the helmet away.

But before the Operative could fully reposition herself to let her next assault rip into his exposed face, Will's arm snapped out and took a hold of the barbed end of the whip. His gauntlets protected him against the sting of its tips. In that brief moment, he jerked the weapon towards him and with it, the hostile Operative.

She was unable to slip away in time and he was stronger than she was. As she stumbled towards him, he intercepted her and slammed his arm against her chin, throwing her to the ground.

The girl immediately caught herself and elegantly whipped her legs around, preventing her from falling down. She couldn't actually do anything more than that, as Will immediately slammed his boot down on her stomach and then grabbed her by her head, before slamming her against the steel floor, denting it.

The other Operative decided that playtime was over and tried to free his partner, but Will deflected his attack and threw him over his shoulder, away from the girl.

She teleported away and appeared behind him, but without her whip, she was unable to stand up to his sword. Their tussle lasted for about two seconds before she ended up with a dislocated shoulder, and Will ducked low to avoid a counterattack from the other Operative, who was afraid to hurt the girl.

Will laughed as he dodged the two katanas and jump-kicked the girl into the corridor with the turret. In the short moment between her scrambling out of its sights to escape having her Aura shredded by the turret and the male Operative declaring that he had had enough, Will managed to escape into the next room.

It was a large decontamination chamber, with bulletproof windows sealing it away from the rest of the rooms. It was the last obstacle in his way and he was certain that the two Operatives on his tail were going to make their stand there. He had officially pissed them off now, and he was _very_ certain that he wasn't the only one whose bloodlust and ferocity increased his effectiveness.

He wished that team RWBY were already here. He was now officially all out of tricks.

~0~

* * *

Blake cursed the size of this vessel as she hurried to follow Yang through another hallway. She was exhausted; the overuse of her Semblance was starting to get to her. The sudden assistance of what could only have been Ancilla had been an enormous help, but it hadn't actually removed the enemies they were forced to engage with each step they took. And Blake wasn't all that sure it was actually assistance; obviously, this girl possessed the ability to change other people's perception of reality en-masse.

But Blake couldn't even take a break and just _think._ Even the brief respite that they were now enjoying would not last long. They passed through a hallway that had been riddled with bullets, and quickly made their way past the annihilated remains of what had once been a large turret.

"What were they trying to keep out," Blake mused.

"It's more what they were trying to keep in," Yang grimly replied.

The last section they encountered looked like it was meant as a sort of hub between two large rooms. They were connected through a very thick layer of glass and a door that looked like it could withstand a Goliath stomping on it.

But this one was not empty. On the other side of the clear pane of glass, Will was engaged in the sort of fight that Blake hoped she would never find herself in.

Three figures were engaged in a furious close-quarters fight. All three of them had depleted their Aura and were rapidly accumulating wounds. Red blood poured out of open wounds, hitting the ground in large droplets as the insane maneuvers agitated the wounds further and further. The ground was starting to get slippery, but none of the combatants showed any sign of slowing down. One of them was a smaller combatant with a whip, who was constantly blurting across the area using some sort of short-range teleportation Semblance.

The other Operative was as large as Cardin Winchester, and carried not one, but two rather oversized katanas. While not as large as Will's odachi, they still gave him impressive reach.

Will's suit had been heavily damaged during his one-Operative assault on this vessel. The left half of his helmet had been sheared away by a terrible blow, leaving a large section of his face exposed. Larger gashes and scratches covered his limbs and torso, and one patch on his left flank had been completely ripped away, exposing pale, bruised skin underneath.

The fight seemed to have been going on for a long time now, judging by the horrific wounds all three of them bore. Yang, infuriated at the sight of her close friend being teamed up on like that, slammed her fists against the window pane, but it didn't budge.

"The door is locked," Blake said, desperately looking for some sort of override mechanism. "I can't get it open…but I think I can bypass the security."

But even as she went to work, the fight in the other room only seemed to intensify. The two enemy Operatives -for they were the only foes to push Will to his limits like that- slowly drove him back. Will chained together a series of slashes at the larger one, driving him back several feet, but the smaller one was on him in an instant. The two of them were a blur of motion as Will attempted to fight her back, resulting in the girl disappearing just in time for the larger Operative to throw Will to the ground over his hips.

Yang pounded the window, searching for a weak point. "We don't have time for that!"

Perhaps he sensed that he was being watched, or perhaps he simply saw her from his peripheral view. He glanced over his shoulder and looked at Yang, if only for a heartbeat, but it was enough for his enemy to make him pay for it.

The female Operative took that impossibly-small chance and grabbed him from behind, wrapping one hand around the pointed chin of his helmet and the other around his forehead, gaining leverage to try and break his neck.

Blake gasped, Yang screamed his name and the girl wrenched-

-only for Will to whirl his blade around and impale himself through his abdomen, driving the large blade through both his assailant as himself in a single movement.

The other Operative shook his head in apparent disapproval, took aim with his katana at the two struggling Operatives and then lashed out-

\- the thick sheet of glass shattered into a thousand pieces-

\- and Yang threw herself at the larger Operative, deflecting his sword and delivering a wicked hook with enough force to send her assailant flying off into the opposite wall, heavily denting the steel.

Blake moved without hesitation. Before the other Operative could recover from the blade through her abdomen, Blake brought her cleaver down and neatly separated the girl's right arm at her elbow, as there wasn't any Aura protecting her. Then, without hesitation, she kicked the Operative in her face, throwing her off Will's blade and against the ground.

"Will!" Yang yelled as Greystone stumbled forwards, losing his composure. Yang caught him before he could fall and reached for the hilt of his sword, intent on pulling it out.

Blake steeled her heart, pushed away the worry and pain that she was experiencing now. "Yang, stop! Don't!"

Yang glared at her. "Blake, we have to take this thing out! He can't mend if there's something in the way!"

But Blake persisted. "He'll bleed to death if you do that!"

"Why-" Yang stopped herself, realizing what Blake meant. Ancilla wasn't able to heal Will's wounds anymore. Whatever she had been doing to lessen team RWBY's burden, it had removed her control over his Semblance. He wasn't healing.

Will grunted and sluggishly raised his head, looking at Yang with a pained expression. "Ah…I…" a pained groan escaped from his lips. "Hah…"

Yang's concerned expression turned to one of absolute vehemence as she looked over at the other Operative, who cracked his neck and then raised his weapons again. Even the second Operative recovered impossibly-fast, picking up her weapon in her remaining hand and simply shrugging off the physical trauma of having been impaled through the chest and dismembered.

Will looked up at Yang with worry, but there was no need for him to do so. Yang gently lowered him to the ground, even as Ruby and Weiss came rushing through the shattered window to come to their aid.

"It's four against two!" Ruby sharply told them. There was no hesitation on her face, only steeled determination. "Surrender!"

The male Operative chuckled with a deep, rumbling voice, but made no attempt to lay down his weapons.

"You know," Weiss said, "If Ancilla were to help us out right now, I wouldn't mind."

Neither would Blake. However, the very moment the two enemy Operatives went on the offensive, all thoughts of peacefully resolving the situation became moot, and the encounter turned into an enforced fight to the death.

The female Operative had been grievously wounded, but still had so much fighting left within her, so much ferocity with which she fought off both Weiss and Blake. She didn't use her Semblance anymore, but when she struck, she did so with the force to dent the walls and floor and when she dodged, she did so with such blistering speed that neither Blake nor Weiss could hit her.

They clashed with the Operative in a flurry of strikes, slashing and stabbing at her with Gambol Shroud and Myrtenaster, despite her being unarmed and losing entire droplets of blood with every passing second. As Yang, Ruby and even Will turned the room into scrap during their fight with the big Operative, Blake was starting to feel a sense of dread she hadn't felt in a while. Didn't these people _ever_ die?

It was only when Blake managed to hit the girl in her shoulder with a sustained burst of gunfire that she finally found her answer. Weiss managed to nail the girl with a decisive placement of her Glyph, after which she immediately reversed the mystical symbol and launched the Operative back to the ground, where she landed with a sickening smash.

Weiss sighed and knelt down next to the Operative, intent on verifying her death, or perhaps assessing her injuries.

The girl suddenly reached out with her arm and grabbed a fistful of her hair. She was far too weak to do anything more than rip out Weiss' hair piece however, and Weiss calmly stared at the girl as she struggled to keep her remaining arm up.

The Operative bled to death on the spot. Her fingers lost their strength, and the lifeless limb dropped to the floor. Blake watched the Heiress for a few moments, waiting to see if she would do something. Weiss didn't bother to fix her loose hair again.

Blake grimaced and turned her focus to Ruby and Yang, who were having a completely different sort of fight.

Despite knowing that he would suffer the same fate as his fellow Operative, Will had pulled his sword free, and despite heavy bleeding, was successfully covering Ruby and Yang as the two sisters cut completely loose on the last Operative.

The Onyx Operative never surrendered, not even when Weiss and Blake joined the fray and the fight turned from two on one two five on one. He was content to fight to the death and for once, team RWBY was content to do the same.

The child soldier withstood the searing flames of Yang's punches and kicks, skillfully dodged Blake's sword strikes and Weiss's stabs and Dust skills. He even reflected Will's weak and, by now, token attempts to disarm him.

But he wasn't able to stop Ruby. The young Rose had changed her fighting style to match the Operative's and exceeded him. She outperformed him in ferocity, in speed, in determination, without ever raising her voice beyond the shouts and grunts of executing her attacks. She changed the tides on her own, allowing her team to push themselves beyond what would have normally been possible.

At one point, after Weiss locked him down with a burst of ice and Blake and Yang knocked him off balance by using Gambol Shroud's cord, Ruby managed to beat down his Aura with several successive slashes.

The Operative then retaliated by throwing one of his swords at her, which she skillfully dodged. She then proceeded to use the opening that Yang gave her and knocked him into the air. There, she used her Semblance to leap above him, whipped her scythe around and impale him through his chest. She then smashed him back down against the ground, further driving the point of Crescent Rose into his chest.

The soldier grunted, unfazed by the brutal assault, and proceeded to grab the weapon's blade with his bare hands, trying to remove it

"Stand down!" Ruby shouted at him. "You'll only end up killing yourself!"

"I won't let you set that monster free," the soldier growled, before a sudden coughing fit seized him.

"She's an innocent girl!"

"A girl? The Catalysts…you don't know what they're capable of!"

Ruby nodded at Yang, who then pulled her arm back and punched the soldier out,

"Catalysts?" Blake then hesitantly said after a few moments' silence. "Plural?"

Yang didn't respond. Instead, she rushed besides Will and knelt, checking to see his damage. Besides the obvious, he was losing blood fast.

"Ancilla," Will choked out through bloodied, chattering lips. He was freezing. His skin was ghastly pale, which stood in sharp contrast to the strikingly-red blood that stained to his limbs. "She…" Tears dripped from his weary eyes, which Blake hadn't been expecting. Behind the fury and the ferocity and the conditioned discipline, all he was was a damaged boy who wanted his friend back.

"Come on," Yang encouraged him, carefully pulling her arm around his shoulders and lifting him back to his feet. The fabric around his abdomen darkened. "You're so close now…don't give up!"

"F-five years I've been…trying to…to find her." His knees went slack, and Yang had to bear his full weight to keep him on his feet. "They w-would have killed m-me, had I…d-done this alone…"

"That's what you have friends for," Ruby told him, before lifting his blade and handing it to Blake, who immediately took it, swept the blood off and gently placed it back in the mechanical sheath on Will's back. "You're not done yet."

Now that the most pressing crisis had been averted, Blake decided to address something that she had been meaning to ever since reuniting aboard this ship. "Say…where is Alice?"

Will grunted. "Didn't make it a-aboard. Evac'ed out after g-giving me a…a little boost…"

Blake had no idea what that was supposed to mean, but she did understand that Alice was alright. At least she was alive, and probably unhurt. Still, being alone and outnumbered in the middle of a presumably ticked-off Onyx base was one of the least healthy places for her to currently be. She had better make it out of there in one piece.

Together, the five of them -though Blake thought it might have been six- made their way through the wrecked room and into the next one. Will managed to keep from keening over, but she had the sneaking suspicion that it might have been because Yang was keeping him from doing so.

The door between had been opened from the inside, as evidenced by the Onyx trooper lying next to the mechanism. What followed as the team fanned out inside of the massive room in the center of the carrier, was something that Blake would not soon forget.

She had wandered around long-forgotten laboratories built underground with RWBY, she had traveled through the most inhospitable places Remnant knew with the White Fang, and she had wandered through seemingly-endless plains on her own. But this place…it possessed a raw beauty and dreadfulness that made her feel so uneasy and uncertain that, if only for a split-second, she wondered if she wasn't dreaming all of this.

The room was massive, easily a hundred meters across and fifty wide. The ceiling was so high that Torchwick could have stacked four Atlesian Paladins atop each other and the center of it all was designed for, was dominated by a single holding cell. It was four, maybe five meters high and mostly made out of frost-coated glass, with oddly-pulsating black structures integrated around it, giving it the appearance of a birdcage made out of metal and plastic.

Thick bundles of cables of all sorts ran across the surface of the floor, all feeding into the iteral and metaphorical prison. Nobody missed the various bodies lying around the floor and nobody commented on them.

Blake couldn't see who or what lay within, but she was suddenly met with an overwhelming desire to _flee_. To run, and get away from this dreaded place while she still could. The cryogenic holding cell gave off such bad vibes that she couldn't help but ponder the Operative's words, about how Onyx was keeping a monster locked up instead of an innocent girl.

But when she looked at Yang, positively _shining_ with happiness, holding around his waist the first boy who had ever made her happy, she quietly and almost shamefully discarded those feelings. Who was she, to make such decisions?

"Ehm...guys?" Weiss tentatively said. "I'm sorry…but I have some _really_ bad news."

"What is it?" Ruby replied, her voice nearly a whisper as she looked at the cage in an almost trancelike manner

"Winter just sent me a message…General Ironwood located an unidentified airship in their airspace. It failed to respond to their hails and now-"

What Weiss wanted to say next went unheard, as a massive tremor ran through the ship and nearly sent the team crashing to the floor. An alarm went off, somewhere within the ship.

"That's not good!" Yang said. "Ruby, we should call Lotus and get out of this place while we still can!"

The carrier suddenly lurched sideways, once more sending the five of them stumbling. Blake mentally cursed the Atlesian General. "Either the advanced warship got shot down in the opening salvo, or we're landing."

As Ruby attempted to get Lotus to swoop in and save them at the last possible moment, Will slowly made his way towards the custodial device. He brushed past the frost-coated with bloodied hands, leaving small traces of red across the white surface.

"I never forgot your birthday…" he whispered, reaching for something that obviously wasn't there. Yang noticed and gently took his hand, guiding it towards the opening mechanism.

"There," Yang said. "You should be the one to set her free."

After a few moments of odd whizzing and mechanical components moving, the cell soundlessly slid open.

Despite currently standing in the very center of a crashing Onyx carrier filled with hostile child soldiers, Blake found herself staring. As the doors slid open, both Yang as Will were bathed in a sudden emergence of cold, flowing air that obscured them for a brief moment.

Then, Will unsheathed his sword and stepped inside. Yang looked on with a watchful eye and even Blake found herself paying close attention for any possible signs of enemy activity.

There was none, and when Will emerged from the misty interior of the mechanical cage again, he did so carrying the body of a pale young woman with long, white-blonde hair. Her slender, unmoving body was clad in a plastic, form-fitting suit of dark grey, with small, ceramic protrusions at her joints and frost tubes that protruded from her neck, chest and abdomen. They had been neatly cut through, and the occasional droplet of light-blue liquid seeped to the stainless ground.

One could only guess at its vile contents. Drugs, chemicals, maybe even some rare refined version of Dust.

Blake was vaguely aware that she was staring, but she was beyond caring now. After the stories, the conversations with Ruby and Yang, the violence aboard this ship, finally seeing the unwitting source of all this…this madness and violence…it was oddly gratifying and disturbing at the same time. Ancilla…the Catalyst…the innocent girl Will's entire life was irreversibly intertwined with. After this, Beacon would take her in. Onyx would be after her. No doubt Atlas would find out, and maybe even go after her as well.

"Ruby," Yang said without taking her eyes off of the two. "Any good news? Are we seeing Lotus again today?"

"Yeah, she's still around. Saying the carrier doesn't look like it's crashing. It's definitely landing."

"Landing?" Weiss exclaimed. "Where? Don't tell me-"

"Yup, in the middle of Atlas-controlled territory."

The Heiress sighed with exasperation. "Terrific! Any more good news?"

"Weiss," Blake warned her. "Don't jinx it."

Ruby grunted. "Well…does an Atlesian air convoy count? Because Lotus just identified herself to the air escort, and she's counting half a dozen ships tracing this airship. In ten minutes, we'll be landing."

Blake shot an angry glare at Weiss, who looked aghast.

"Then we better get moving," Yang replied. "Will, I really hate to say this, but I think you're going to bleed to _death_ if you keep pushing yourself."

"I p-promised her," the ex-Operative softly replied. "I w-won't lose her again."

Blake thought it was lunacy for someone with his wounds to be carrying around a person, but to her amazement, nobody actually went against it. She was going to have a _long_ conversation regarding personal responsibility when this was all over.

Easier said than done. Finding a proper weak spot in the hull wasn't that hard, and Yang still had that one Havoc charge left. She planted it on the hull and set the timer to three minutes, Lotus' estimation of how much time was left.

Blake didn't know who on Remnant was piloting this vessel and neither did she care. Be it Ancilla somehow influencing their minds, or an Onyx Operative with their own agenda, or even a sympathizer trying to get them into friendly territory. After a very exhausting and very harrowing day, she just wanted to lie down and rest.

So she did. A few minutes of respite, spent waiting in anxiety.

They waited in total silence as the carrier touched down, resting against one of the walls as the entire ship was tilted by now.

Blake couldn't take her eyes off of Ancilla, this strange girl who had been in kept in a cryogenically-generated coma for the past five years. She looked almost peaceful, clasped in the embrace of the near-sleeping boy who had risked his life to free her. The leftover ice and rime that stuck to her were slowly starting to melt, and little drops of water were silently dripping from her body.

Blake knew that it was unreasonable, and that she had nothing to base it on, but she still felt torn between feeling remorse for this girl and feeling utter dread. Why?

"What do you think will happen when the General finds us like this?" Yang suddenly asked, breaking the silence. She was sitting on the ground next to Will and Ancilla, allowing both of them to rest against her body.

"What makes you think Ironwood will be with them?" Ruby asked.

Weiss snorted. "Ironwood, a landing Onyx flagship and a Beacon dropship. It'll be a miracle if he doesn't show up."

"If you put it like that…"

Yang softly shook Will by his shoulder. "Hey…still with us?"

He didn't reply.

"Will?" Yang said, worry creeping into her voice. "Can you hear me?"

"…cold…" he whispered.

Blake wondered to what extent this was Will talking, or Ancilla. Even thinking about it was disturbing to a certain degree. A boy with two souls, one his own and one an innocent girl abducted from her home and drafted into this…horrifying spiel of madness and science.

"That's the blood-loss," Yang replied. "But you'll be fine. When we get back to Beacon-"

The ship trembled violently and suddenly, the arc was gone. They were touching down.

"Not long now," Ruby said. She tapped a few buttons on her Scroll. "So ehm…anyone else feel really nervous?"

"You're doing fine," Weiss then told her. "Just get us out of here without a prison sentence."

Yang smiled. "So yeah…no pressure at all, right?"

Ruby smiled too, but when the rest looked away again to tend to their own matters, Blake caught her grimacing instead. This had been their call as much as hers, but she still felt responsible for all of this, it seemed.

The ship slowly lurched to a halt and when it did, Yang handed the last explosive charge to Blake and, together with Ruby, helped Will and Ancilla upright.

"I can carry her," Will mumbled to Yang.

"You can barely carry yourself."

Blake finished placing the explosive charge. "It's ready."

"Alright people, hang on to your teeth," Yang laughed, before Blake detonated the Havoc and consumed the metal hull in a conflagration of fire and who knew what else Grace had laced the explosive with. By the time the smoke had dissipated, an entire section of the hull had been boiled away.

"I'm so glad that Grace is on our side," Weiss said. Nobody disagreed.

Will approached the faintly-glowing hole with surprising determination, though Blake saw that he was struggling with every step he took. Yang and Ruby were close behind him, ready to defend themselves and their friends against anyone that might use this last moment before safety to attack them.

No such attack came. Instead, the opening in the side of the carrier was instantly bathed in the illuminating lights of half a dozen searchlights.

~0~

* * *

 **Atlesian DMZ**

 **Derelict Onyx vessel**

General James Ironwood straightened his back and watched as the massive, black carrier came to a slow halt, having been escorted out of the sky by half his fleet. The little Beacon dropship that buzzed around was inconsequential; he wanted the men and women aboard this ship.

The scientists, the soldiers, their projects, all of it. This would be a humiliating defeat for Onyx, having been forced to surrender without ever fighting.

And if they did choose to fight…

Ironwood glanced around, looking at the hundred hand-picked soldiers he had stationed in a semi-circle around the fallen carrier. Their ranks were bolstered by a dozen Paladins and three dozen Knights. No, never again would an Atlesian General be stabbed in the back by an Operative goon.

"This time, _we_ bring _you_ down."

An explosion went off inside of the ship's hull and jets of fire burst outwards from the side, most likely an attempt of their forces to escape this doomed vessel. A desperate maneuver and dumbly-performed as well; they had chosen the wrong side to step out of.

"Shoot on sight," Ironwood ordered his soldiers. "Don't give them any quarter!"

A hundred rifles were lined up with the small hole at the lower section of the massive carrier, and Ironwood narrowed his eyes. Someone was making their way out.

The General watched as a single soldier stepped outside, holding the unmoving body of a young woman. Behind him, several more figures stirred.

"Take aim," he ordered his men.

Every single unit under his command took aim at the lone figure, but when he completely left, General Ironwood came to recognize the little tyke.

"Greystone," he growled. _Of course_ the Onyx ghoul would be involved with this. No matter; he would finally pay for his crimes. For his part in murdering Ulysses. James' mentor. His friend.

His brother.

"Give the order to fire," he growled at his second-in-command.

"Sir?" His Lieutenant requested. "Target is unarmed."

"I don't have to remind you of the things these freaks are capable of with their bare hands, do I _Lieutenant?"_

"Sir!" One of the soldiers then cried. Still, nobody had opened fire. "Isn't that a civilian? The girl he's carrying?"

But James didn't care for one civilian. She could be considered collateral damage in a fight that would remove one of Atlas' most dangerous foes!

Before he could officially give the order for all units to open fire and burn the little roach to the ground, four more figures exited the ship from that same hole and the Beacon airship rapidly touched down next to them.

James knew he would live to regret this. "All units, hold fire! We're not going to gun down Ozpin's gear." Then, he grudgingly added, "Not before he gives me a _very_ good explanation…"

He watched with growing frustration as the little airship took in the student team, as well as the dangerous lunatic and the civilian he was holding in his arms, before taking off.

"Get me a direct line to Ozpin _right now,"_ he ordered his second-in-command. "And task some of our gunships to trace that airship. In the meantime, give our units free light to board that ship."

Ironwood swore that he would find out what had just transpired here. He would find out what Beacon students were doing aboard an Onyx ship, what they were doing in the presence of a well-known war-criminal and why he hadn't been warned of the presence of an unwelcome Onyx warship when clearly, a gang of _kids_ clearly knew of its existence.

This was the last straw. Ozpin harboring criminals was one thing, but withholding critical information that had resulted in a breach of Atlesian air space? This was where he drew the line. There would be recompense for this.

~0 ~

* * *

 **AN:** _so I already didn't take the revelation that Weiss had an older sister in stride. But finding out that she had a brother? Oh boy, that messed things up for me._

 _Anyway, I hope that this chapter worked out for people. Let me know in a review or a PM what you think!_


	18. Chapter 18

_Operative Alan Blackwood strode through empty hallways and dark corridors, faintly recalling having made his way through a complex interior like this before. He remembered when, and he remembered where, but he couldn't remember the name. It was odd, as he rarely forgot such details, but here he was, unable to find the proper_ word _for it._

 _Even though he had better things to worry about, it struck him as odd. This wasn't the first time he had forgotten seemingly-inconsequential things. He had never officially been diagnosed with PTSD as William and Alice had, and he knew that the shellshock came in many forms, but memory loss? He refused to accept that. After this was over, and he retained the ability to do so, he would find Professor Greene._

'A curious decision."

 _Alan halted. "What do you mean?"_

'Of all your mental defects, you worry about inconsequential memory loss?'

 _Attera had always been privy to his thoughts. Ever since having woken up from that fateful surgery all that time ago -after having found out that he had been suffering from a mental breakdown so serious that it had taken him_ weeks _to even formulate lucid thoughts after said surgery- she had been with him. His Bonded partner, his Catalyst, his greatest shame. An innocent girl had been shamelessly abducted from her home and forcefully grafted into his mind and he had been incapable of putting an end to her suffering._

 _She loathed him because of it, and that was exactly why she never initiated contact with him. She only ever slumbered, content on quietly waiting for the sweet release of death that never came because_ he _was too selfish to lie down and end it._

 _So why speak to him now?_

" _You know I made a promise,"_ _he whispered to her. "After we stop General Ulysses from causing another war. And I will not let anyone stand in my way, not even Onyx."_

'And yet your first thought is to find _her_ _."_

 _Attera uttered that name with such loathing that Alan realised that she knew more than she let on._ " _I know she was involved with your abduction. And in the end, she'll get what's coming to her. But I'm just worried-"_

'About forgetting small details like names. In other words…higher cognitive functions."

 _She spoke with a tone of voice that almost felt like she was…amused. Yes, through the bitterness and the resentment, she was pleased. Why?_

'Because, you mindless drone, it means we are both degenerating."

 _Alan let her stinging comment pass. He always did. It wasn't her fault._ " _Degenerating?"_

'Deteriorating. Breaking down. Name it if you must. Death is coming for us all the same…and you won't stop it."

 _Alan scoffed and readied his spear. "Watch me!"_

'Gladly. What was the name of your mother?'

" _I…what?"_

'The color of her eyes? The name of _my_ mother?'

 _Blackwood halted. He didn't-_

'Exactly. The name of your style of sword-fighting? Perhaps the day you killed your first Goliath?'

" _I…I don't…"_

'Hmm…indeed. Give it time. You will come to understand it soon.'

 _He was not at all reassured, but he had no choice but to press on. Still, there was only one way for Attera to know what he did not know, and that was by not knowing it herself either. She too experienced a sudden decline in her ability to remember, he_ felt _it. Their Bond was deteriorating. But that was good! If it declined further, it would snap. Attera would be set free._

 _Yes, Alan thought. This crime against nature would set itself right, and he would overcome it. He had always overcome everything._

 _It was what he was for._

 _As the Atlesian warship rapidly approached the ground, Operative Blackwood made his way to the bridge. There, a single man waited for him, calmly watching the ship's hull from the bridge's many windows. The ground was rapidly approaching them, yet the man didn't look bothered in the least, while Alan was very disconcerted with the idea of a high-velocity crash into Mistral's surface._

" _General Ulysses," Alan calmly said. For a split-second, his heart was gripped with regret, and he wished he could take his place by this man's side. But he knew his place, and he knew his duty._

" _Blackwood," said the General. He glanced over his shoulder, appraising Alan._

 _The Operative quickly took his helmet and discarded it. They weren't friends, but he respected the man. And that counted for something._

" _You've grown. How old are you now?"_

 _Alan calmly walked up towards the General, deliberately sheathing his sword to show that he wasn't going to initiate the fight just yet. "Nineteen."_

 _Ulysses nodded, and he too stayed his hand. "So you are. You are no longer the child I met, the first time you tried to take my life."_

 _As Alan walked up to the man and joined him in watching the ground rapidly approach the warship, he said, "We were never children. The moment Onyx took us in, we became soldiers."_

 _The General grunted. His long, black hair was tied in that same neat tail as all those years ago, and his beard looked like it hadn't grown a millimetre. "Standing here, I realize you are just like me trying to change history."_

" _So we meet like equals?"_

 _With a nod, Ulysses said, "I like that thought. Being the General of the Atlas armed forces, I have never known a competent rival. It seems destiny has a twisted sense of humor, setting me up with an assassin from the Onyx Foundation as my greatest enemy."_

 _Alan couldn't disagree. "Had my position been different, we might have been allies."_

" _Perhaps. Blackwood…you do know what violence breeds violence?"_

 _He knew. Gods above, he knew. But what else was there? "But in the end, it has to be this way."_

 _The General grunted. "I suppose it does. History will vindicate my name, Blackwood, as the man who united Remnant."_

" _Only if you live, and I die."_

" _Only if I live and you die. I don't hate you. And I wish it could have been different. But the Witch…she left us no choice."_

" _The Themeluesi -the Founder- said the same thing."_

" _Then perhaps he and I too, could have been kindred souls."_

 _Again, Alan couldn't disagree. "We won't find out."_

" _Actually, I hope we do. But only one of will walk away from here alive. Are you prepared to lay down your life in service of the people, Blackwood? To die for them?"_

" _Always," Alan whispered._

 _Ulysses nodded again, and the Operative could have sworn he saw the corners of his mouth rise in what might have been a smile. "Good man. So am I."_

 _He glanced at Alan, and then he actually smiled. There was no friendliness to be found there, and it was the only incentive he needed to act._

 _The two of them burst into motion at the same time, struck at exactly the same moment. They grabbed a hold of each other's throat, an instance before the entire flagship crashed into the bare surface of Mistral's plains and everything went black._

'I think I understand why they chose you. _You_ were meant to keep _me_ in line.'

 _He could feel his body being flung through something solid. His Aura flared in protest and barely managed to keep the pain in check._

 _Alan coughed and wheezed, fighting for every breathe of air. He was vaguely aware of someone talking to him, but he couldn't make out anything except for a black haze, which was slowly fading away as he struggled to remain conscious._

 _Now he could add a high-speed crash to his shit-I-survived list._

 _His Aura fully kicked in and brought him back to sharp alert. He wasn't alone._

 _The Operative slowly crawled back to his feet, slowly glancing around to see what he had wrought._

 _The once-proud flagship would never fly again. It had crashed nose-first into Remnant and its massive frame had been ruptured along its side. The large bridge, built to overlook the entire ship, had been obliterated by the sudden impact. It seemed that he and the General had been flung through the windows when the ship went down..._

 _Alan sharply inhaled and turned around, watching as a large plate of metal was casually brushed aside by a very-alive General Ulysses._

 _Blackwood grimaced. So it would be this way in the end._

 _The General rose to his feet, brushing dust and small pieces of debris off his uniform. "Come, Blackwood. Time to end this."_

 _Alan exhaled, reached for the handle of his sword and_ moved _. He closed the dozen meters between him and his opponent in the time it took his heart to contract and pulled his sword free, guiding the blade past the General's throat._

 _Only Ulysses was faster than he was. He effortlessly knocked the blade aside and then tried to slam his elbow into the Operative's chest._

 _Alan sidestepped the blow and immediately struck the General with his free hand, throwing three punches at his exposed flank, with absolutely no effect. Before he could continue, Ulysses was on to him, and his elbow connected with Alan's face with all the force of a charging Beringel._

 _The Operative hit the ground eight meters away and immediately rolled back to his feet, unsheathing his spear. How strong was this man?_

 _Unfazed, Ulysses calmly strode towards Alan, who kept his spear between him and his foe._

" _Who judges the right from wrong?" The General asked._

" _Those with the strength to make a difference!" Alan countered. Then, when his foe came close enough, he resumed his attack. With superior speed and agility, as well as reach, he tested Ulysses' technique and defences from every single direction. He struck and struck again, whipping his weapon behind his back and over his head to deflect and redirect every counter-attack that came his way. He struck his foe across his chest, leapt back and then high in the air to deliver a blow from above._

 _Ulysses was ready for him, and easily blocked Alan's three-fold spear-thrust._

 _The Operative landed with both feet on the hull that had been shattered by the sheer force behind their blows and impacts and drew his other sword in one smooth movement. He slashed at the General neck from the right, immediately whipped his sword over his head and struck from the left again._

 _Faster and faster, he rained down blow after blow on his opponent, but Ulysses effortlessly deflected his swords, enduring the many bites of a blade that could cleave through a Death Stalker with one slash._

 _And then, as he blocked his last attack, the General made his move. He blocked the sword with his bare hands, forced it sideways and then shattered it over his knees._

 _Alan barely had the time to gasp in surprise before Ulysses nailed him with a hammer-blow to his stomach, then his chest, then his head. He mauled his Aura with absurdly-powerful punches and kicks, never wasting an ounce of energy on superfluous moves. No elegance, no exaggerated movements, just a man who knew how to kill with single blows._

 _Alan was left reeling, and the General performed a stop-kick so brutal that he knew his chest would have collapsed had it not been for Attera regulating his Aura. Still, he was not immune to the kinetic energy behind the hit, and he was violently thrown against the remains of the ship's bridge._

 _The clash had lasted mere seconds._

" _I expected more of Onyx's greatest warrior," the General said. "Don't tell me you were all talk, Blackwood?"_

 _Alan growled in frustration and slammed his fist in the ground, denting the metal. No matter what he told himself, he was not immune to the effects of Onyx's training. Pain riled him up, blood excited him and the act of killing his fellow man brought only joy. But there was strength to be found in fighting against your nature…_

 _Although right now, a great strength lay within his nature as it was._

 _Alan clenched his fists and rose to his feet once more. "Let me show you."_

 _The General smirked, and then the two of them clashed once more. Blackwood was a force of nature, breathing just to beat and bruise. He jumped and kicked at the General's head, then ducked low to avoid his attack, whirled around him and struck him at the back of his head. Ulysses tried to force him back with a spinning kick, but Alan intercepted him and delivered a punishing strike between his legs. Then, he pinned the General's arm behind his back and slammed him against the metal underneath their feet, leaving another sizable dent._

 _He wasn't done. He hauled the man back to his feet, transferred his grip to his other hand and spun around the man's back once more, dragging him with him and flinging his body against the floor again. The blow should have broken every bone in the man's body, maybe even severed his limbs, but he remained intact, and the only thing that broke was the warship-grade hull of the crashed flagship._

 _Alan finished his move and backhanded Ulysses, forcing him back and creating an opening to dislocate his shoulder. Then, as the General was distracted with his now-useless arm, Alan delivered an open-palm strike directly to his heart that, Aura or not, would certainly kill the man. It had, without fail, dispatched of much larger foes in the past._

 _The strike did knock Ulysses back several meters, and the man did clutch his wounded shoulder, but he remained standing._

 _Blackwood was shaken. "How are you still alive?" He demanded._

 _With a loud pop, Ulysses reinserted his shoulder. He grunted in pain, but remained composed. "Semblance, son. My skin can't be pierced without my authorization, my organs won't be damaged without_ my _permission! You can't hurt me, Blackwood."_

 _Alan had killed tough enemies before, but this? This was ridiculous. "Everyone has a weakness," he growled._

 _The General shook his head, his long, dark hair falling over his shoulders as he did, no longer neatly tied. "Not everyone. Had that been true, the Grimm would have been defeated by now."_

 _Blackwood refused to believe that. He scooped his second sword with his foot and he resumed his onslaught. With speeds that only the most well-trained Hunters were capable of even seeing, he laid down series after series of assaults on his foe's body, delivering one crushing strike after another, shredding clothes and completely depleting the man's Aura. To the outside observor, he would have been but a blur, like lightning straying from the thunder._

 _As fast as he was, he was still unable to completely avoid his foes retaliation. As he dodged a strike to his left and leant towards his right, the General's foot suddenly shot out and hit him in his side. The boot connected with his flank and he felt one of his ribs break under the blow._

 _He grunted as the bone snapped and delivered the last attack of his series. A horizontal blow across the man's stomach, a sidestep to the right and then a diagonal slash across his chest._

 _As predicted, his sword failed to pierce Ulysses' skin, and when the tatters of the General's uniform slowly drifted to the ground, leaving him bare-chested, Alan understood why._

 _He lowered his weapon and stared at the most extensive and sophisticated augmentations he had seen in his life. The subtlety of the machinery…the way his clothes perfectly hid the result of an invasive surgery the likes would have killed a lesser man…how long had Atlas had this tech?_

" _What have you done to yourself?" Alan demanded. Glowing lines of yellow and black ran across every exposed inch of the General's skin, wires and circuits that had been integrated with his muscles, his bones and his very skin. It looked so delicate, yet so refined. But the Operative recognized it for what it was; a body-wide cybernetic overhaul._

 _The General grimaced. "Unsightly, is it not? Believe me, they have never been as pronounced as they are now. You are the first person I have ever faced to push me to this extent."_

" _Why?" Alan shouted. "Why would you-?"_

" _This is not my doing," Ulysses replied with a sad smile. Even his eyes glowed with a sickly yellow glare now. "My friend and I...years back, James and me were caught in a devastating accident. We were given…_ two _choices. Live or die. James choose to have the destroyed part of his body replaced. I chose to have it repaired."_

" _Convenient," Alan growled. "It grants you strength and speeds no man could attain."_

" _Says you! My blows would have killed most men, almost instantly. Yet you seem to grow stronger as I wreck your body."_

 _Alan hesitated, then decided to disclose his own secret as well. Ulysses had been forthcoming enough. "It's my own Semblance. It-"_

 _But the General would not have it. "Please, I did not become a General for nothing. Allow me my own ideas."_

 _And with that, Ulysses went on the offense once more, and the two of them clashed in mid-air. There was no respite, no mercy. The two fought on without animosity, without hatred, knowing that neither of them could leave until the other was dead._

 _As the fight dragged on, Blackwood received a grievous wound for every single mistake he made. He failed to guard himself, and was rewarded with another broken rib. He blocked an attack that he should have redirected, and felt the bone in his left arm give away in protest. He struck at exactly the wrong moment, and dislocated his hand doing so._

 _The pain forced him to push himself further and further, fully giving in to his violent impulses. He made Ulysses pay for every single small victory he gained, but was never able to fully hurt the man_

" _Why do you fight, Blackwood?" The man shouted above the howling wind._

 _Alan countered, struck and cross-countered, fighting the General to a stalemate. "We fight for justice! For every crying child, for every grieving mother!"_

 _Ulysses shouted as he tried to land another bone-breaking blow on Alan's chest, but he caught the General's limb mid-swing and shifted his weight to send him stumbling. Then, he dove underneath the arm and rained down a series of lightning-fast hooks against the General's heart._

 _Ulysses broke free, but Alan roundhouse-kicked him away._

 _The General steadied himself and reached for his chest, where the cybernetic lines were glowing at their brightest. "The world thinks you are murderers! Terrorists! The people you strive to protect HATE you!"_

 _Alan assumed another martial arts stance, constantly switching styles to prevent the obviously more-experienced General from catching on. "We fulfil our duty, in places mankind has forgotten! Invisible, without a trace! We fight the monsters nobody know exists, and bleed when nobody offers solace! Because we can take it!"_

 _To accentuate his words, Alan lunged for the General again, forcing him back with a rapid series of jabs, hooks and kicks. He mauled his opponent with elbow-strikes, jump kicks and at one point, when Ulysses grappled with him and forced him to his knees, a well-timed headbutt._

" _You shed your blood when nobody offers aid!" The General shouted. "And how do they thank you? How WILL you be thanked? What will you take, when the danger is gone?"_

" _I don't need a medal for every man I kill!" Alan shouted back. "I'll build a better world with my own hands, and there is NOTHING that I want! Nothing I NEED!"_

 _The two clashed again, and Ulysses gained the upper hand. He threw Alan over his hips and followed up with a stomp, intent on crushing his skull._

 _Blackwood quickly rolled away, placed his hands on the ground and pushed himself in Ulysses way. He swept the man's legs out from underneath his body and used his remaining momentum to jump to his feet again._

 _He slammed his elbow against the General's chest, aiming exactly for his heart, and sent the man crashing into the deck again._

 _Panting, Alan stepped back, clutching his side. His ribs were hurting too much for simple fractures. Just like the General that inflected them, his injuries were more than they seemed._

 _They continued their fight like that, maiming each other for what felt like an eternity. Alan soon realized that this was starting to turn into a war of attrition; the one who lasted the longest, won._

 _Ulysses coughed heavily and leapt back to his feet. "I see now what makes you strong, Blackwood. It is your Semblance. It allows your body to adapt to whatever gets thrown at it, making you stronger for it! I saw that ability in the most dangerous of Grimm, most of which now slumber deep beneath Remnant."_

 _Alan backed away when the General launched another series of spinning kicks at him. Ulysses moved with such speed and such erratic movements that it was nearly impossible to predict where the man would strike next._

" _But it is more than that," the General continued. "It's not just your body that adapts, is it? It's your mind! When Onyx abducted you, you accepted your new life, because that was the best way for you to survive!"_

" _No!" Alan shouted back. "I embraced my duty! I understood my plight!"_

" _Did you? Or was it your Semblance that allowed your broken mind to snap back together as war broke it? I can see it in your eyes, Blackwood! War is hell and you live it!"_

 _Blackwood sidestepped another attack and forced the General in a wrist-lock, pinning him down long enough to land another three blows on his chest. "Then why are you raising it? Why is Atlas stirring up all of Remnant!"_

" _Fool!" Ulysses yelled, before breaking free of the lock and shoving Alan back with one arm. "I am waging war to end war! Once Atlas has the world in her hands, we can rebuild together, as a society!" He punched Alan across his jaw with his right fist, before driving his left into his stomach. "No more hatred! No more racism! No more TERORISM! Nothing like that EVER AGAIN!"_

 _He accented every single word with his fists and his legs, wrecking Alan's body with each blow he landed. Every attack hurt him in a different way, never allowing his Semblance to grant him the immunity he so desperately craved._

 _Ulysses halted, as if allowing Alan the time to think. "I understood you now. Your ability, that is. What makes you special. But you haven't endured everything that the world can throw at you yet, and you lose your protection as time goes on." He suddenly grunted, reaching for his heart. "I won't be cruel, boy. I'll end it here."_

'I believe that this is the moment to tell you that there some things that even your Semblance can't overcome,' _Attera suddenly chimed in. She distracted Alan long enough for Ulysses to land his final blow, and he barely even had to the time to see it coming._

 _The General's right hand shot out with such force, such blistering speed, that Alan barely even registered the blow before it crushed his windpipe._

 _Ulysses lifted him in the air with one hand and Alan felt a lifetime of training and experience take over. On instinct, he whipped his left leg out and wrapped it around the arm that was currently choking the life out of him. He forced the limb down, bringing the General's head close enough so that Alan could strike him across his face with his elbow._

 _The grip on his throat lessened and Alan took that moment to change the odds. He shifted gears to a different style and seized the man's arm, pinning it against his own shoulder and pulling Ulysses into an elbow-lock, which he pushed to its breaking point, and then beyond it._

 _As the broke the man's augmented arm, he tried to take a deep breath to steady himself, and then discovered that he could barely breathe. Ulysses had almost completely crushed his windpipe, and fighting like this would see him choking to death._

 _He accepted that possibility without a hint of panic. He still had two minutes to end this fight. Two minutes to win, and prevent a worldwide war._

 _A grunt escaped his throat as he whirled the General around and unleashed a series of lightning-fast jabs at his chest._

 _Realizing that he was losing effectiveness, the General increased the ferocity and speed with which he had so effectively ruined Alan's body, but his punches had lost their weight. He had expanded his entire arsenal to deadly effect but now, he was all out of moves. Still, every hit he landed further winded the Operative, who needed every precious second he had._

 _But at long last, he understood how he was going to win this. Not with brute force, not with ferocity, but with a calm heart and a serene mind. He dodged, weaved and moved past all of the General's punishing attacks, concentrating purely on his own centre._

 _Ulysses had run out of tricks, and Alan still had one left. As the man lashed out at his face, intent on blinding him, Alan shifted his weight again and redirected the attack, following up with a lightning-fast blow to the General's neck. He pinned his foe's leg to the ground with his foot and then struck him with a quick strike to his solar plexus._

 _Stunned, Ulysses reared back and reached for his stomach, and Alan opened up with everything he had._

 _It started out slow, to test for tricks and responses. When none came, the child soldier cut loose completely. He stepped in, pinned the General's arm to his stomach and followed through with a hook to his chest, further aggravating the man's heart. He punched him again and again, landing a merciless flurry of blows that were too fast for Ulysses to defend himself against._

 _No pierced skin._

 _No ruptured organs._

 _No victory through strength or brute force. The General didn't realize it and tried to kill Alan with one final punch, intent on crushing his skull with his overwhelming martial arts technique. Alan widened his stance and allowed Ulysses to come for him. He gathered his strength, tapped into the last reserves of Aura that he had left and made his move. Through Ulysses undefeatable Semblance he struck, reaching through his technique and hitting him one final time._

 _Something gave away underneath his palm and he knew that it was over._

 _The General uttered a choked cry and fell to his knees, clutching his chest as he did. He coughed and a sputter of blood escaped past his lips._

 _Alan sighed and tried to take a deep breath to steady himself, but he was barely able to squeeze in enough air to keep him from blacking out._

 _Ulysses softly moaned and raised his head, looking up at the air where various Atlesian warships were already circling the fallen flagship._

 _And then he smiled. "History…is w-written by the v-victors…"_

 _Alan knelt down next to the man, both to make sure that Ulysses wouldn't stand up again as to keep the man from keening over. A warrior as great as him had to die with dignity._

 _He tried to reply, but the only thing that escaped past his bloodied lips was a choked growl, making him sound more like a dying Grimm than a man._

 _Ulysses perched his lips and let his arms hang. The yellow glow had dissipated and with it, the General's fighting spirit. "I-I remember…our first meeting. W-what is…your name…s-soldier?"_

 _Wordlessly, Alan ripped his dog-tags from his neck. Ulysses reached and he took the General's hand, gently dropping them in his trembling hands._

" _Alan…" them General muttered. He was overtaken by a powerful coughing fit and he covered his mouth with his free hand, spilling blood all over the floor._

" _Would you m-mind…listening…to t-the last w-words of an old s-soldier?" Ulysses then asked._

 _Alan could have sworn that he saw something wet glistering in the man's eyes and he nodded._

" _D-don't let her win…the W-Witch…" he coughed again and his face contorted in pain. That the man was still alive was a miracle; his heart should have been completely destroyed at this point. "She will try to…get to your soul. Don't let her. S-she will…try to bring you to…d-despair…don't give in. Stay t-true…to your h-heart…and fight! F-fight for those who cannot d-do it themselves!"_

 _Alan nodded again._

 _The man gasped and his eyes seemed to glaze over. "I'm…proud of you…son. S-so proud…you g-grew up to be a…a mag…magnificent…"_

 _A small tremble ran through the man's body, almost too subtle to notice, and the life faded from his eyes._

"And so dies another hero," _Attera offhandedly remarked. "_ Stay true to your heart…a shame. You and I will soon follow."

 _Alan shook his head, not understanding what the girl was trying to say._

 _He would, however, in the months that were to come._

 _A great warrior had to die with dignity._

 _There would be no dignity for him._

 _~0~_

* * *

 **Aboard Beacon airship "Lotus"**

 **Vale airspace**

 **Present day**

 **02:34 AM**

Every Beacon airship carried a medkit with it, just in case something went very wrong in the field and someone needed emergency medical care.

Ruby thought this counted as an emergency. She and Blake were trying _very_ hard to keep Will from bleeding to death, as the wound he had caused himself was even worse than they had thought. There was a ragged hole in his abdomen, which ran all the way to his back. His Aura was completely depleted and now he didn't heal on his own anymore. There was a serious threat that he wasn't going to make it to Beacon, even after everything that they had been through.

"Come on," Yang said as she supported his head, trying her best to keep him awake. "Stay with us! You didn't make it this far just to bleed out now!"

Of course he didn't respond. It didn't look like he had even heard what Yang said; his skin was almost the colour of Weiss' hair. His eyes were glazed over, which made Ruby all the more grateful that she could see his chest slowly rising and falling with each breath he took.

Ancilla sat slumped in her seat, looking like she was sleeping peacefully. Yang had strapped her in right as the Atlesian military started issuing threats to get out of their airspace, just in case things would get rough.

Which they did, but just not in the way anyone had actually expected. Lotus had immediately gotten them out of there and that was the moment that Will's body finally started protesting against the lack of blood.

Now, Ruby had followed basic first-aid courses back at Signal and she still remembered a handful of things from them, but she had never had to actually _do_ any of the things she had learnt. So when Blake shot one look at the medkit and immediately went to work with it, she could basically feel the weight falling from her shoulders.

"Is he going to make it?" Weiss softly asked, from a considerate distance. For someone who wanted to spent her time fighting bad guys and monsters, she was awfully squeamish around blood. Or maybe it was just because Blake had laid the wound bare, allowing the Heiress an unrestricted view on the open wound in Will's abdomen.

"There isn't any sedatives here," Blake muttered. "This might sting a bit…"

Ruby shivered when she saw her teammate whip out a bottle of disinfectant and spray it on the open wound. She remembered how _she_ had been forced to go through a clean-up like that and how incredibly _cold_ that stuff was. It also stung like a thousand ants biting you at once, but at the moment, Will didn't seem particularly concerned with that. He gasped when the cold substance dripped into his wound, but otherwise he didn't respond.

"So ehm…I'm not the only one who things his arm looks a bit weird, don't you think?" Yang then said.

Ruby frowned and looked for herself. She saw, much to her horror, that his left arm didn't quite bend the right way. "Ooookay we might need a bigger medkit…"

"Nothing we can do now," Blake said as she applied a tight bandage around Will's waist. "The teachers will have to look at that when we get back…"

"Did any of us actually stop to think what would happen when the teachers actually discovered what we did?" Weiss then said. "I mean, the General is going to be furious."

Yang shrugged. "What does he have to be furious about? That ship would have crossed Atlas' borders regardless. We only did him a favour; we brought the damn thing down and knocked out its crew! We basically served him that ship on a plate!"

"Which is exactly what has me worried," Blake darkly said.

Ruby hadn't looked at it that way. "What do you mean?"

"Imagine what sort of technology he could find aboard that carrier. You and Weiss downloaded everything you could, but did you also delete the data after you were done?"

Ruby and Weiss exchanged a nervous glance. "Uhh…"

"Exactly. Imagine what Ironwood could do with all this data and hardware. What if he decided to make a Catalyst for himself?"

"He wouldn't," Yang resolutely said.

Blake looked at her. "Do you _know_ the General?"

Yang shook her head. "No, but I know what Will told me. You don't just take a person and _make_ them a Catalyst. There are things you need to do."

"What sort of things?"

Yang wordlessly looked at Ancilla. "I don't think I want to know."

"Good enough for me," Ruby said, cutting that conversation short. The last thing she needed right now was doubt and fear in her team. "When we get back, we find Ozpin and explain what happened. I don't think he will judge us for rescuing an innocent girl from Onyx."

"You don't think, or you don't hope?" Weiss replied.

Ruby nervously chuckled. "Ehm…pick whichever you like better?"

Weiss facepalmed. "We are done for."

In the meantime, Blake finished treating Will's wound and she gave an audible sigh with relief when she did. "There. This will keep him alive until he gets to the medical wing."

Yang laughed. "Blake, I could kiss you! You are the _best_!"

Blake gave her a weak smile, which faded much too fast for Ruby's likes. It made sense though; the four of them had been through what was easily the most gruelling mission of their lives. People had gotten wounded, people had died and all four of them had experienced a level of warped reality that even uncle Qrow could not reach with his special bottle.

So yeah, it was to say that they were exhausted.

Blake was about to take her seat when Will reached out with a bloodied hand and took her wrist. She gasped, startled at the sudden touch, and in a reflex reached for the hilt of her sword, but Ruby didn't think there was any reason for her teammate to be scared.

"Jas…" he muttered. The corners of his bloodied lips rose into the faintest hint of a smile. "Found you…Jas…"

Blake looked shocked. "I -what?"

Will let go of her wrist the next second and he lost his focus.

"That was mildly disturbing," Weiss said.

But Yang shook her head. "Just reliving a memory, I guess. He used to think of Professor Seraphim like a big sister, remember? Before…well, her first name _is_ Jasmine."

"That…actually makes a kind of sense," Blake replied.

Ruby could see why she was shaken. The first time she had taken someone's life -that Ruby knew of at least- had also resulted in a dying Onyx kid finding amusement in her Faunus ears. All of this must be bringing back some painful memories.

The journey back to Beacon was a welcome change of pace. Ruby could simply sit back and _think_. Her friends had made it out mostly unharmed and they had managed to rescue Ancilla as well. It had proven to both Weiss as Blake that Will had been in the right all this time.

Still, Ruby was happy to welcome another friend. Beacon was much more than a school. It was living up to its name now; a shining beacon of hope in an ever-darkening world. Ozpin took in people who were regarded with suspicion and hatred everywhere else and because of that, they had made friends that would stand by their side through everything that Remnant could throw at them.

Though Ruby doubted Will would be doing any fighting anytime soon. And if everything went right, neither would Ancilla. Hopefully, the poor girl would never see any frontlines ever again. She still couldn't believe what Onyx had done to her and, if that soldier was to be believed, many more like her. Forcing a girl that had never even _seen_ a weapon up-close into the soul of a child soldier to watch his every action and step on the battlefield? And for what purpose? Regulate their Semblance? Increase their "efficiency"? If Will was to be believed, Ancilla had helped him stay a normal, sane person. Relatively speaking.

Ruby tried putting herself in the girl's shoes, decided that it would most likely damage her sanity and quickly tried to think about something else.

"We should hand this information to Ozpin when we get back to Beacon," Ruby eventually said.

Weiss sighed. "I believe that would be for the best. Who knows how much more people like Ancilla they have locked away, entombed in that frozen cell…" The Heiress shuddered. "Why would they do such a thing?"

"Because they're evil," Yang flatly said.

Surprisingly, it was Blake who disagreed. "There is no such thing as simple evil," she said. "At least not within people. Besides; what people tell and what Onyx shows, doesn't fit."

Yang ran a hand through her hair and frowned. "Uh…what?"

"It's a literature term. Show, don't tell. A good author shows the things they tell as the truth, while a bad author will tell things and never show them. Everybody keeps _telling_ us how evil Onyx is, but Remnant _shows_ us that it isn't the case."

Yang was aghast. "Do you honestly think that Onyx is doing _good_? That they are justified?!"

Blake was quick to disagree on that. "I believe that _they_ believe they are doing is right. You remember the stories that Cal and Lily told us, don't you? Onyx sent them out against human traffickers, gangs, mercenaries who terrorize civilians. Does that sound like how an evil organization would use their child soldiers?"

"You thought the same about the White Fang," Weiss quietly pointed out.

Blake took it in stride though. "And you thought the same about Frost. You still do, don't you?"

"I think that offering a hurt and tortured little child a chance at revenge isn't something evil people would do, no."

"No, but _moral_ people would have gotten Frost out of there and returned him to his family!" Yang then exclaimed. " _Not_ patch him up and give him hellish training to sic him on enemies like apersonal guard dog."

"And therein lies all the difference in the world," Weiss concluded. "The difference between being evil and being moral. Onyx is neither."

Ruby was secretly very proud of Weiss for that last remark. She had gone from "White Fang are all monsters" to "Onyx isn't evil" and Ruby was glad for that. "Exactly! And as long as they don't try to demand something like us returning Ancilla to them, I'm happy to leave it at that."

Weiss still visibly cringed. "Please don't jinx it…"

The airship was making steady progress now. After another twenty minutes, Lotus finally gave them the signal that they could ready themselves.

" _Alright girls, we have been cleared to touch down at Beacon. I'm going to park this bird right in front of the main entrance. Get our VIP's to the medical bay and then get yourselves to your bunks."_

"Thanks Lotus!" Ruby replied. "You're the best!"

" _Damn right. Remember that next time you're out in the field gathering souvenirs."_

With that, the airship started landing. Lotus hadn't been kidding; she was literally parked in front of the main entrance, with about two meters to spare. Ruby hadn't even thought it _possible_ to land an airship that close.

Which was strange, because she had thought that parking an airship atop Onyx's secret carrier ship had been very possible. Oh well.

Yang glanced at Ancilla, grimacing. "Blake, do you think you can carry him?"

Blake nodded. "Sure." She followed Yang's eyes, perhaps realizing what she meant. "You're not going to do it?"

Yang carefully reached out and for Ancilla, placing one arm around her slender waist and the other underneath her legs. "I feel like neither of them wants anyone but me to touch her…does that make sense?"

It did to Ruby. And judging by the way Blake simply nodded and moved to pick Will up, so did she.

Weiss activated the control mechanism and opened the outer hatch, allowing team RWBY to finally set foot upon Beacon ground again.

It felt good, being at the Academy again. It was home as much as the house where she had been born. It lacked the presence of dad, but it more than made up for that with the presence of…basically everyone else.

Will didn't look like he was conscious anymore. But his eyes were closed, so it looked more like he was asleep than anything else.

Ruby just hoped that he would sleep well.

"So how are you holding up?" She eventually asked her big sister as they made their way through the dark, empty hallways of a night-time Beacon. She was _really_ glad that they hadn't run into anyone yet, but they would need the help of a professional real soon.

Yang was silent for a few moments. "She's light," she eventually said. "Really light. I think she weighs less than you, sis."

"I mean, she _did_ spent four years in coma," Ruby replied. "That wouldn't be very healthy…"

Yang cracked a little smile. "Yeah, I'll bet…it just feels _weird_. It's like, none of this makes sense, yet it feels like it _does_."

Ruby wondered about that. Ancilla being here basically proved every single story from Will to be true…which meant that he and Ancilla had their souls forcefully Bonded together a long time ago. Wouldn't that mean that they shared just about everything? Memories, dreams, thoughts?

Feelings?

If so...it actually made a lot of sense for Yang to feel like she did. Maybe Ancilla was still reaching out with her soul, trying to soothe Yang's?

Or was that too farfetched?

Ruby was still wondering about how all of this worked when she noticed Blake glancing down at the motionless boy in her arms, who wasn't so motionless anymore. He looked up at the person who was carrying him, then looked around, as if searching for something.

Then his eyes landed on Yang, who still carried Ancilla. The two even looked alike, in a way.

"And you were surprised that these people rarely get any sleep," Weiss said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"It's pretty hard to sleep with a hole in your body," Yang said.

Ruby felt like uncle Qrow would have made an inappropriate comment there.

If Will understood what they were saying, he didn't show it. He was looking around like a curious little kid, but never kept his eyes off of Yang and Ancilla for more than a few moments.

But he took it easy, so there wasn't much that they could do to keep him still. They made it to the medical bay without encountering anyone and that confused Ruby.

She was starting to wonder whether anyone had actually heard the large airship land in front of their school, or if it was just that sneaky. If a single dropship could just pop in unannounced…that didn't make the school look good.

Then again, Lotus _had_ been cleared for landing by someone. So they were being watched over. They probably didn't think anything of it.

The doors soundlessly slid open as Ruby took the lead, more on instinct than anything else. There wasn't anybody being treated here right now. Good.

"Just put him down on that bed there," Ruby instructed Blake. "I don't think Ancilla is hurt."

Will closed his eyes for a few moment and quietly exhaled when Blake gently and very carefully placed him down.

"Thirteen months…" he whispered. He opened his eyes again and looked at Ancilla's sleeping form and even reached out for her. "Thirteen months she was alone…without a corporeal form…without _me._ Stuck in some _machine_ - _prison_."

Ruby frowned.

 _The first synthetic person capable of generating Aura!_

A soul, stuck in a machine?

"She's safe now," Yang said. She smiled her warm smile and ran her finger past Will's eye, brushing away a tear. It could have also been a trail of blood, Ruby couldn't see it in the dark. "We won't let anyone take her."

Will closed his eyes again. "There is so much I want to say…so much I _should_ say…but I don't have the words."

Ruby thought that a strange thing to say. Not having words…did he mean he couldn't think of them?

"Tomorrow," Yang promised him. "Tomorrow morning we'll drop by and you can say whatever you want. But you need to understand that you lost a crap-load of blood, okay?"

He didn't respond. Ruby liked to think that that was because he understood.

With that, the four of them left the medical bay. Ruby felt her exhaustion catch up with her and she had to suppress a giant yawn.

"They'll be alright, won't they?" Blake tentatively asked. "Shouldn't we instruct the medical team?"

Yang crossed her arms. "As long as they get a proper check-up, I'm fine."

"Uhh…Yang? I hate to be the one to say this, but we still need to report to Ozpin. Can you imagine him hearing from General Ironwood before hearing from us?"

Weiss rolled with her eyes. "Oh please. Who in their right mind would call the Headmaster at this time?"

Ruby had to admit, it sounded a bit stupid when put like that. "Yeah, we have the time. I'm exhausted!"

Yang looked at the medbay with yearning eyes. "I guess so…"

"Then let's call it a day!" Ruby concluded. "Mission successful, operation complete, details classified!"

The three girls just _stared_ at her, abject horror and confusion on their faces.

Ruby grinned.

Nobody could keep it together after that. All the exhaustion, tension and panic from the past few hours rolled off their shoulders as they stood laughing there for a good ten seconds, before they headed towards their bunks. Ruby didn't even bother to change into her pyjamas after that. She remained awake just long enough to feel her head hitting her pillow and after that, she quickly drifted off.

~0~

* * *

 **Headmaster's office**

 **03:14 AM**

Glynda Goodwitch barely managed to suppress a yawn while watching the camera footage of the airship landing right at their doorstep. Older students had verified that it was in fact one of their own pilots, stopping to drop off a team of first-years and two people they didn't recognize.

The teacher had refused to believe it, flat-out ignored all the signs pointing to the likely culprits. Of course, when Ozpin said something, there was a high probability of it being true.

So when he had calmly taken a sip of his coffee, muttered "RWBY" and returned to his papers, the Goodwitch had been exasperated.

And soon enough, General Ironwood had sent Ozpin a furious message, demanding an explanation for the role that a team of Beacon students had played in a recent aerial incursion in Atlesian territory.

"Why is it always those four?" She said with a sigh.

The Headmaster reached out for his desk and tapped a few buttons on the panel on the side. "Fate, Glynda. Fate would have them tag along with their friend and now, fate would have us explaining their actions."

At that, the Professor frowned. "What do you mean?"

"It seems their actions did not go unnoticed. Would you kindly take this paper and place it over there?"

She took the bundle of papers without question. "Of course, Headmaster."

The next moment, the now-empty desk activated the holographic displays that were built all across its surface. Glynda recognized what it was doing, as she had seen this happen before with long-distance calls, but she failed to recognize the individual who had been so crude enough to call the Headmaster at three in the morning.

She started to protest at the caller, intent on sternly disciplining them, when she heard the Headmaster speak.

"Professor Greene, I suppose? I do not think we met before."

" _Not face to face,"_ said the woman on the other end of the line. Though most of her features were shrouded in shadows, Glynda could still make out her long, white-blonde hair and dark lab-coat. _"Do you have any idea what your students just did?"_

Greene…she had heard that name before. She was one of the head-scientists within the Onyx Foundation. Her name carried almost as much weight as the name of the Founder himself.

"Yes," Ozpin calmly said, as if he were talking to an old acquaintance instead of a dangerous war-criminal. "They helped out a friend of theirs, and freed an innocent girl from her prison."

It took all of Glynda's discipline to keep her face straight. The Headmaster knew? About team RWBY's voyage into Atlas? And who was this innocent girl he talked about, a Maiden?

" _That view is subjective. In unshackling the Catalyst, they severely crippled our strategies at keeping Remnant safe from the Grimm. They also released a monster from its cage."_

Though Greene never raised her voice, never allowed a single word to betray her emotions, Glynda couldn't help but feel like she was accusing the Headmaster of collaborating directly.

"A monster?" Ozpin mused. "I beg to differ. I fail to see how an untrained, crippled young woman can be deemed a larger threat to my Academy than some of your more… _successful_ members.

" _Failing to see and refusing to see are two different matters altogether. I suppose I must speak from authority when I say that I know the Catalyst better than anyone else possibly can. She will hurt people, Ozpin. The potential of the Four Seasons will pale in comparison to the destruction and sorrow she will cause when left to her own thoughts."_

"Hmmm…I suppose therein lies your specialty then, Miss Greene? Making sure people do not think their own thoughts? Perhaps I spoke somewhat unclearly before, or perhaps you misunderstood my point. Regardless, a damaged young woman who can't even walk on her own will not be any threat to _my_ Academy. The things that the people you take, abuse and subsequently discard can do to your organization are, of course, not my order of business."

The woman crossed her arms. " _We can do without your ad hominem, Headmaster. We do not abuse and discard. We take natural potential and turn it into a way to protect the many. The strong most always defend the weak, and the Catalyst belongs to us. She was never meant for this world."_

Professor Goodwitch did not miss the way Ozpin's jaw clenched when he gave his retort. "I would say you lost your right to complain about our actions, when you raised your metaphorical hand against my students. Did you ever stop to think what the world would look like if you had _not_ abducted a young Huntress from her team, _twice_? If you had not subjected innocent girls to unspeakable horrors to break their very souls?"

Glynda felt her unease increase. The Headmaster _rarely_ raised his voice.

And what Greene said next, increased her unease to actual horror. " _Of course we did. The Themeluesi picks the best possible future among the thousands he sees. What does it say about Remnant, Ozpin, when the best possible outcome is the one we have taken long ago? When I speak about the greater good, I speak for the greater good of all of Remnant."_ She sighed and then gestured with her hand, as if waving something away. " _You won't be swayed. I foresaw that. I only wish to express my most solemn concern about you having waken the Catalyst from her tomb. We thought if we allowed Greystone to reunite with her soul, the day he and his friends last did battle, we might quench this problem. But he was not content with just that."_

"Your concern?" The Headmaster kindly reminded her, while Glynda struggled to recall what Greene meant. The day mister Greystone had placed team CFVY in the medical bay, after the Breach? When team RWBY had succeeded in bringing him back to Beacon, at the cost of severe wounds and Miss Schnee's weapon?

" _Take it as you must. The fact is, the one thing that keeps our…no, your Catalyst from destroying your Academy and murdering your students is her lack of coherent memories. When her mind realizes what we did to her…Salem will no longer be mankind's most immediate threat."_

"And what do you suggest _I_ do about this?" Ozpin said. It was a rhetorical question; Glynda knew that the Headmaster was in the right and that he was merely humouring the woman.

Greene's voice was outright menacing when she said, _"Lobotomize her."_

Ozpin raised his eyebrow again. "For the greater good, one lobotomized innocent girl at a time? I do hope you realize that this is why people have a hard time trusting you."

" _Then I hope you have a contingency plan for when Beacon falls, Ozpin. Remember what lures the Beasts."_

And with that, Ozpin terminated the link.

Glynda was stunned. There were no words to express the way she felt except, perhaps, for disgust.

The Headmaster sighed and leant back in his chair. His expression was inscrutable "Thank you for your assistance, Miss Goodwitch. You may leave."

Glynda didn't budge an inch. "How much credence do you lent her? Do you think our students are in danger?"

" _Glynda,_ " the Headmaster sharply said. "Get some rest. I will be assessing our guest tomorrow."

The Goodwitch moved towards the door, then stopped when she had her hand on the knob that left to the elevator-hallway. "How will you assess her?" She softly asked.

Ozpin raised a bemused eyebrow. "How? Why, by talking to her of course."

~0~

* * *

Yang woke up early the next morning. In part, it was because she couldn't get much more sleep. Her dreams were littered with all sorts of weird images and voices, which felt _really_ crappy when she woke up.

So much for a good night's rest…

But she also didn't want to wait until the teachers randomly found out about yesterday's mission. They had kind of sprung two new patients on the medical bay and telling the doctors and nurses what had happened was the least she could do.

Yang sighed, already seeing herself try to explain what was wrong with Ancilla. They would either laugh at her, or declare her mentally unstable…

Still, she wasn't one to give up without trying, so to the medbay it was!

The rest of the girls were still sleeping, so Yang tried to be as quiet as she could. Blake would probably hear her leave, but everyone knew where she was heading, so that was cool.

The sun was barely rising by the time Yang was ready to go. Most people in the school would still be sleeping, but the staff at the medbay always got up early, so they would have likely spotted their two new patients by now.

It took Yang just a few minutes to make her way to the medical bay. She opened the door and peered inside, taking a quick look to see if she was interrupting anyone.

She wasn't. Professor Adamant stood in the corner of the medical bay, typing something on his Scroll.

Yang was surprised to see that both Will as Ancilla were lying atop their beds, without any blankets. Their clothes hadn't even been changed. What was up with that?

The moment she opened the door, Will turned his head and looked at her. He looked tense.

"Hey," Yang said.

Adamant turned to look at her. He looked even more tense than Will. "Ah, Xiao Long. Good to see you. I thought you were the Headmaster.

That didn't sound good for Ozpin's manliness.

"Need something?"

Yang hesitated for a brief moment then stepped inside and closed the door behind her. "Yeah. I was looking for my friend, over there. Can I just-?"

"Yeah, nope. If there isn't an immediate emergency, I am going to have to ask you to take your leave."

Yang frowned at that. "I eh…what? Is something wrong?"

Professor Adamant's eyes flashed towards Will for just a split-second, but Yang caught it nonetheless.

"He's upset," Will said. "Because I won't let him touch her."

Matthew sighed. "No silly, it's because you threatened me at gunpoint to stay away from one of my patients."

Yang sighed with exasperation. How could she have known that they needed to _disarm_ him before getting him some life-saving first aid? "Will, seriously? You're _threatening_ him? What-"

That was when she noticed that Matthew was wearing a lab-coat. The same one most doctors would wear.

Was it doctors who took Ancilla away? Tore her soul from her body, sentencing her to a fate worse than death?

Now she understood why Will looked so tense; he _was_ tense! That he hadn't assaulted the Adamant was a miracle on itself.

Yang took a few moments to find the right way to put that. "Of course you're threatening him…"

The Adamant crossed his arms and shot Yang an sceptical look. For a man who was basically being kept at invisible gunpoint, he looked more annoyed than anything. "I have the feeling you know more than you let on. Do tell?"

Yang looked at Will, not sure if she should scold him or just try to reason with him. How far did his protective feelings towards Ancilla go? If it was anything like Yang felt for Ruby, then it was a real miracle that Professor Adamant was still standing here. "Yeah, we go way back. My teammates and I brought them in last night. It's difficult."

The professor raised a sceptical eyebrow. "Difficult is remembering to zip up your pants. His unnatural Soul-Bond with Ancilla is a little more complicated than just "Difficult". "

That took Yang by surprise somewhat. "Wait, you _knew_?" She paused. Getting upset over the fact that Professor Adamant knew about this would have to wait. "That makes this easier. He's not afraid of needles or anything, but he has really bad experiences with doctors and other professionals. With lab-coats. They did some very bad things to Ancilla."

Mathew took a handful of his outfit and looked at it. "Alrightie then, that explains why my patient suddenly didn't trust me anymore. I would take this bullseye off, but I need it to look professional. Could you talk to him for a moment? I will need to cancel my order of tranquilizers…"

"Sure," Yang replied, wondering if it was a good thing or not that Matthew Adamant had taken up the vital role of a doctor as well.

While the Adamant returned to his office, Yang walked up Will's bed, not sure whether she should scold him or hug him. In the end, she settled for both. She knelt down by the bed and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, holding him close for a few moments.

"You really shouldn't be threatening the people who try to patch you up," she said upon letting him go again. She spotted his sidearm at his holster and mentally slapped herself for not seeing something like this coming. "What were you thinking?"

"I won't let them take her," Will replied. He sounded so pissed, _looked_ so incredibly disturbed. "Doctors and scientists, all of them, liars and sadists! "

Yang thought it sad that he still couldn't do most of the things that she took for granted. "Nobody here is going to hurt you. You should know that by now."

But he wouldn't be convinced. "We can't hold her here. They'll try to get her -I know they will!"

"Then let them try! If Onyx wants to fight through an entire Academy with Huntsmen and Huntresses, they're welcome to try!"

"They will. You don't know them like I do, what they're willing to sacrifice-"

The door to the medbay was flung open, startling them both. For a single, confused moment, Yang thought that they were under attack and she moved to shield Ancilla, trusting her Aura to be able to take the brunt of the attack-

Only it wasn't any bad guys. It was just professor Goodwitch, hardly someone to fear unless you misbehaved, or neglected your studies.

But her bad timing, coupled with the loud noise she made upon entering, was enough to make Will think otherwise. He leapt out of his bed and raised his gun. Yang saw it happen and yelled his name, trying to get him to stand down-

A shot rang out, but only one.

For a brief moment, nobody moved a muscle. Goodwitch stood in the door-opening with her own weapon at the ready, scowling. Will's arm was trembling, like he was struggling mightily against something. Then, after a few tense seconds, he dropped the gun, which clattered harmlessly to the ground.

Suddenly, Yang's Aura warned her of something behind her and she shot a quick look over her shoulder.

Ancilla turned in her sleep, but she didn't wake up.

Will set his jaw and clenched his fists, but he didn't protest once as he sat down and kept his calm.

Yang whistled softly. She had _got_ to learn that trick.

"Why hello there," said a familiar voice. The blonde tore her gaze off of Ancilla and looked back at the entrance, where professor Goodwitch was now joined by Headmaster Ozpin of all people.

Shit, what a day to try to shoot one of your teachers.

"Headmaster-" Yang sharply said, but Goodwitch cut her off.

"Miss Xiao Long, I would advise you to remain quiet for now." And then, strangely enough, a look of sympathy crossed her face. "If you would…"

Ozpin casually strode towards them with his cane in one hand. "It would appear one of our stories has come to life, yesterday."

"She''s…not a Maiden, is she?" Goodwitch then very carefully said.

Yang frowned. What the hell was that supposed to mean?

"She," Ozpin replied, "Is very much someone new." He stopped by her bed and smiled at Ancilla. "Hello," he said again. "I'm Ozpin, the headmaster of this school. "It would appear you have made quite a journey."

When she didn't respond, Ozpin turned to look at Will. "Your companion's condition is a very curious one."

Will narrowed his eyes.. "It was a reflex. She's not aware of her surroundings."

The Headmaster reached for his glasses two fingers and gave them a nudge. "I must admit, I was somewhat sceptical as to professor Adamant's claim. However, I received an illuminating call last night."

Yang felt a pit drop in her stomach.

"There was one opportunity and I took it," Will softly replied. "I've been waiting four years for that chance, I couldn't just-"

"What my students do in their free time," Ozpin interrupted him, "Is of no concern to me. I merely question your peculiar timing."

"General Ironwood was very upset with the breach of his airspace," Goodwitch explained. "Beacon Academy is loyal to its Kingdom and its Kingdom only. You will take responsibility for your own actions yesterday, _all_ of you."

Yang nervously chuckled. That really didn't bode well.

Ozpin slowly nodded, likely knowing exactly what was going through her head right now. But then he looked at Ancilla's motionless form and he sighed. "Sometimes, the truth is more any one of us can bear…as you might know, one does not simply wake after such a long period. There will be complications in the future."

"I'm prepared for that."

"Nonetheless, we can keep her safe from Onyx, in the very least."

Yang grinned, but kept her mouth shut to keep Goodwitch docile.

"You would do that?" Will said with surprise.

It didn't surprise Yang all that much; everybody that knew Ozpin was aware that he always did whatever was best for the people involved. It was why he had allowed Ruby to enrol two years before she was supposed to.

At least…that was why he did this, wasn't it?

Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "We would be a very sorry Academy for Hunters otherwise, would we not?'

"Simply for the sake of it?" Will asked.

"Many people are capable of simple acts of kindness, mister Greystone," Goodwitch replied. "You simply have not met them yet."

Their business finished, the two teachers prepared to leave.

"Wait," Yang said. "So, about last night-"

"Ah yes, your unauthorized operation into Atlesian territory. I look forward to reading miss Rose's report. Do tell her to make haste; I have nearly ran out of reading material."

Professor Goodwitch glared at Ozpin and then sighed in exasperation. "You should try your administration sometimes," she muttered.

Yang watched the odd pair leave, after which she sat down by Ancilla's side again. She couldn't _believe_ their luck! Ozpin had to be the most reasonable man she had ever met. Apart from her dad, of course. "I think he told Onyx to go eff themselves," she said with a laugh.

Will groaned and laid back on his bed, closing his eyes. "I hateit when she does that…"

"Excuse me?"

He gestured with his head to Ancilla. "I know it was the right thing to do…you just exerted too much force."

Yang scratched her head, feeling like she was missing something important. "Hello? The civilian here is kind of lost."

Will grunted. "Ancilla always had… _considerable_ control over me, back in the day. She still has." He reached for his stomach, where the rudimentary bandages were still holding up. He sharply inhaled when he pulled the wrong muscle. "Ah...she's not even aware and she already has to reel me in…"

Yang glanced at the girl, realizing what he was talking about. There had been a gunshot and she had reacted to it.

Despite the gravity of the situation, she was more curious than anything. Finally she had the chance to truly understand their past. "What were you like before you met her?" She asked. "I mean, from what you told me…"

"Yeah. Pretty much like the soldiers you fought aboard that carrier," Will replied. "But a lot more vicious. Kind of like Alice when she's pissed." He closed his eyes and rested his head on his bed again. "Which is all the time."

"I dunno…you were already a hardass when you came to Beacon," Yang teased.

Will chuckled quietly. "You're so awful…" His voice trailed off as he looked away. "I still…still can't find the _words_ I need. I don't _have_ them. What do I say?"

"Depends. What do you wanna say?"

"A lot…I want to tell you about Ancilla and her youth, about my up-up—" He took a deep breath. "Up-bringing…and about the future. I want to talk about the things I did and…" He fell silent again. "I'm tired," he then muttered. "Think my blood grew back already?"

Yang couldn't suppress her laughter at that point. "Because _that's_ where you get your words from?"

Will muttered something in return.

Yang gently reached for Ancilla's head, running a few fingers through her hair. The girl flinched in her sleep, but she relaxed somewhat when Yang went easier on her. "Man, this is so weird…she's been living inside your head for years. That must have _sucked_." She realized what she was saying and quickly backed up. "Wait, I mean -you know what I mean!"

Of course, Will didn't seem offended at all. "We made it work. But those times are over now. She's free …and she will _stay_ that way."

Free wasn't exactly the word that Yang would use. "I think we should first get her out of those creepy clothes…"

"Hold on," Will slowly said. "You don't…you aren't… _what?"_

Yang realized what she just said, and gave herself a mental slap for that. "No, that's not what I meant! I was just saying-"

Thankfully, professor Adamant popped out from his little office and interrupted before Yang could say anything else. "So! Headmaster is finished? Good. Hopefully he didn't spot me, have yet to submit my thesis…anyway, now that I have removed my coat, we can resume our work!"

"So why exactly are you here?" Yang asked, suspicious at the professor's carefree attitude.

"In preparation of the lady's arrival, I made sure that this particular medical bay was…well, unoccupied, let's say. The last thing we need is nosy people triggering some unseen button."

"He was pointing a gun at you," Yang flatly replied. "No disrespect prof, but _you_ are the button."

The teacher reached for his Scroll. "I would be the trigger, Yang, not the button. Though, if you paint me red, I might change my mind. Still need to burrow your sister's cloak for that…my medical history is significant enough for Ozpin to assign me to young Greystone over here. Oobleck isn't that kind of doctor, you see." His bright, green eyes peered over his Scroll. "As you might know, medicine for that kind of disorder is not very easy to come by."

Yang scowled at that remark, but she remained quiet. Easy or not, it hadn't helped her mother one bit. The insensitive bastard had to know that.

"So now that we have handled my credentials, I would like to begin. Though it's easy on the eyes, it might be better for Ancilla if we at least dress her in a way befitting of her situation."

Will leant towards Yang and whispered, "What does easy on the eyes mean?"

"It means that the good professor just disqualified himself for dressing-time," she whispered back. "Professor Adamant? Maybe you should let us handle that. Trust issues and all."

The teacher shrugged. "Suit yourself."

And then he proceeded to just stand there, fumbling with his Scroll.

Yang rolled with her eyes. "Maybe I should have been more clear, professor. We're going to get Ancilla out of that gear. As in, undressing her."

He blinked innocently. "So?"

"Get out!"

Adamant placed his hands on his hips, putting on an insulted face. "Oh, fine! I'll just be sitting in my office, wondering how to get a comatose girl to wake up again."

Matt then turned around and left, much to Yang's relief. He was a good guy to have around in an emergency, but he was just so _weird_ at times.

The blonde looked down at the sleeping form of Ancilla, wondering why on Remnant Onyx had designed it to be so tight-fitting. Sure, it was _very_ easy on the eyes, but nobody would be looking at that when the girl was on life-support in some dark, frozen tomb…

…Yang caught herself staring and she quickly tore her gaze off of Ancilla's slender waist. "Will, do you want to grab that blanket for me?"

No response.

"Will?" Yang glanced over her shoulder and saw, much to her amusement, that he had fallen asleep. She smiled and decided against waking him up again; he needed the rest.

Still, that left her completely alone in this. She had helped Ruby dress up before, but that was years ago. Plus, Ruby had been conscious. Definitely useful in a situation like this.

Yang shrugged. Will trusted her, which meant that Ancilla trusted her too. She guessed.

…this was going to take some _real_ getting used to.

~0~


	19. Chapter 19

**AN:** _Finally, another update. And finally, the lemon we've all been waiting for: the first actual male/female lemon! Milestone for me. Anyway, I'll put a little warning in at the start of the scene. Be sure to let me know if it worked or not._

 _~0~_

 **Chapter 19**

* * *

It was not every morning that Field Commander Yale found himself roughly woken by a most angry and demanding message, especially not one recorded by voice.

+ _Yale, get to the Headmaster's office right now!+_

The Onyx officer frowned when he recognized General Ironwood's voice. Something like this had happened to him before, a good thirty years ago. Back when he himself had been attending school. But here, it wasn't as much out of place as it was Ill-mannered and rude.

Yale sighed and got dressed. When he had concluded that defecting from the Onyx Foundation was the best choice, he had not expected to actually spend every waking moment inside the main base of his new "employer". It made for shorter trips to the meeting room, but it also made for awkward lunch breaks.

He was aware that the few staff-members that were aware of his duties here could not stand him. He wished he could muster the passion to care. But the negativity of the atmosphere that awaited him in the Headmaster's office was a new low, even for this place.

Yale carefully scanned the room, as he did with every room he entered, for possible traps and emergency exits. The drunk Huntsman was present, but the lunatic was not. Still, Glynda and Ironwood were also present and they glared at him like he had just been publicly condemned as a serial rapist.

"I take it something has come up?" He dryly asked.

The drunk Huntsman chuckled darkly. "You could say that…"

"Thank you for coming on such a short notice," said the Headmaster. There was no sign of mistrust or anger to be seen on his face, though the man was an enigma to the inexperienced reader. And everybody who had been born this century was an inexperienced reader when it came to Ozpin.

The General did not waste his time. He immediately stepped towards Yale, locking eyes with him.

"The first issue. Yesterday-night, an Onyx airship breached Atlesian airspace. It turned out team RWBY and that wardog of theirs were fighting their way through its interior, on one of their ill-conceived missions. A Beacon dropship managed to extract them shortly after the warship landed."

Yale raised an eyebrow at that. He had most certainly not been informed of _that._ "Your point?"

Ironwood's eyes narrowed. "What was an Onyx warship doing above _my_ Kingdom?"

The Field Commander bristled. The audacity of his demand! The unmatched arrogance! "While I severely doubt whether Atlas belongs to you, I suspect that the airship was doing what every Onyx warship has to do in Atlesian Airspace."

"Which is?"

"Flying," Yale flatly remarked. "And most certainly _not_ informing a ground commander of their unquestionably-classified mission, especially not when said commander has been suspected of being a defector."

"How convenient to stamp every relevant bit of information as classified," Glynda bit at him.

Yale shot her a look. "Madam, it's what we _do._ Hardly a day goes by without matters growing increasingly classified. Surely, you did not expect anything else?"

"Well, you never know with you people," remarked the drunk Huntsman. "Which brings us to the second issue of not knowing. Three guesses what happened next?"

Yale glanced at the Atlesian General. "Another prisoner escapes confinement in the brig?"

The Huntsman snickered. "Hah…wrong."

Ironwood immediately took the bait. "No. Team RWBY found something-"

"Someone, James," Ozpin corrected him. "There is no reason to take any of this out on her."

"We do not even know that! For all we know, "she" could be an "it"!"

Her? She?

Growing suspicious, Yale asked, "What is this about?"

"I am certain you are aware of young Greystone's unique partnership, which Onyx rather insidiously provided for him."

Yale felt a cold pit drop in his stomach. "The C-Catalyst?" He quietly said. "You found her?"

"Greystone and team RWBY found her," Glynda corrected him.

"Impossible."

"Some of us thought the same thing," replied the Huntsman. "Apparently, the line gets drawn _after_ magic."

At that, the General shot him a dirty look.

"No, I mean, that is _literally_ impossible," replied Yale. A dull feeling of dread was slowly spreading through his abdomen, unlike he had felt in a long time. "She's dead. It was confirmed."

Ironwood crossed his arms over his chest. "So, you admit you knew of the girl's existence?"

Yale shook his head. "I never pretended otherwise…it was just never relevant."

"It is relevant now," said Glynda. Her tone softened. "So perhaps you should enlighten us? Because Onyx does not seem particularly glad we have their Catalyst in possession."

"I only ever knew what the file on her said, and even that was so covered with blank ink that I only got the most important bits…the girl was put through extensive therapies and other treatments to trigger the right psychosomatic response, necessary to loosen the link between her body and her soul."

"Which shouldn't be possible in the first place," commented Ironwood. "Not without killing her."

Yale sighed. "I don't know about that. I only know that it worked, and she served as Greystone's sole remaining link to humanity for four years, from thirteen to seventeen, until she died."

The Huntsman grunted. "A miserable fate as any…"

Yale could not disagree. "No details were given, no reports were made, but the girl died and it destroyed his mind and soul in the process. He was found again a few months later, with neither his Semblance nor his Aura. On his own insistence, he went back out into the field."

The room was silent by the time Yale finished his sentence. The ever-stern Glynda Goodwitch had a look of abject sorrow on her face, but neither the Huntsman nor the General allowed themselves to betray what they were thinking.

"And that is the extent of what I know. His personality, his _being,_ is based on her life and death. So when you tell me that your student team somehow _retrieved_ the girl-"

"We have her in the medical bay," said Ozpin. "I would show her to you, but I severely doubt William will be able to remember his manners upon seeing you."

Yale fell quiet upon hearing that. He stared at the Headmaster, trying to process what the man just told him. For one terrible moment, he thought that the Witch had won. That she had blurred the lines between life and death and cursed them with the ghost of Onyx's darkest hours

He shook his head again. It was impossible. There had to be some sort of mistake; dead people stayed dead. "Are you are certain that this is her? That you didn't accidentally take the wrong girl in?"

"Miss Rose's report was very clear," replied Ozpin. "In fact, the things that took place on that ship can only be explained that way. If you would like, I can summon miss Rose here…"

The Headmaster let the question hanging. Yale was quick to decline. "That will not be necessary…"

This could only mean one thing; the reports had been deliberately portraying wrong information. That, or the Catalyst was even more powerful than the declassified parts had suggested.

Spirits, he could still remember the uproar that had been caused when Operative Blackwood had lost his. The sheer panic on General Eventide's face, the utter relief that soon followed when it was revealed that Attera had perished. Every human on Remnant should have uttered a breath of relief.

"Half the staff-members associated with the Catalyst program committed suicide afterwards," he muttered under his breath. "Greene had to recruit people with sociopathic _and_ paedophilic tendencies and those were quickly hunted down and butchered by the Carriers who went rogue…Ozpin, you _must_ relocate the Fall Maiden!"

"Oh," Qrow said with faked indignation. "Oh, are we telling _him_ our secrets now?"

Ironwood was fuming. "How did you-?"

"Protecting the four Maidens has always been one of our most important tasks," Yale quickly replied waving away these irrelevant concerns. "It is the sole reason Ozpin trusted Onyx during the early days. If the Catalyst is _here_ , alive…the people were afraid of them, Ozpin! Every Onyx officer who even _heard_ the uttering of their name -we cannot let her find the Maiden!"

"Whatever your sources are, I can assure you that the Maiden is secure," Ironwood growled at him. "She is being kept stable by state-of-the-art Atlas tech. Relocating her will put too much strain on her body!"

Despite knowing that most "state-of-the-art" tech was actually derived from Onyx technology, Yale bit back his initial retort. It would only bring them more harm.

"You said it yourself, Yale," Ozpin said without as much as a hint of worry. "You don't know any of this for sure. At this point, all we have is a crippled young woman in need of medical attention. The _least_ you could for her is, as you yourself put it, keep the peace."

"Still, that two higher-ups in the Onyx Foundation displayed such dismay at her newly-gained freedom leaves me worrying. What will she do once she wakes up?" Ironwood then said. "How can we be certain she is on our side?"

"We can't," said Ozpin. "One can never have such certainty. We can only treat individuals with compassion and kindness, and hope they will remember that when the moment of conflicts arrives."

"It _did_ work with the children we took in from Onyx command," Glynda said, though she sounded very hesitative about it. "Greystone, Cal, Lilly and Ash all came to our aid when the need arose."

"In past wars, humans trained dogs to fight and kill other humans," Ironwood said, glaring at Glynda as he did. "And when the war is over, they can't be trusted with anything _but_ killing people. Do you know what happens to them?"

"I would assume they go through an extensive re-education program," Glynda replied, countering the General's glare with one of her own. "Expensive and time-consuming, but ultimately-"

"No, they get put down," Ironwood cut her off. "You can't re-educate dogs of war, and you can't re-educate child soldiers. _I would know._ You can only keep them under control, and hope they don't maim the wrong people when they break loose. I won't argue with you on this, Ozpin, but for all of our sakes I _hope_ you know what you are doing."

With a sudden start, Yale remembered why he knew the name Ironwood, and why the man loathed the concept of child soldiers so much. Lieutenant James Ironwood, last survivor of his entire regiment during a disastrous military operation in Vacuo.

 _I would know_ …when Ironwood said that, he actually _meant_ it.

~0~

* * *

 **Medical bay**

 **2 hours before next Tournament match**

"It must have happened during the first moments of the attack," Ruby said, "back when your Semblance still worked. Man, that sucks."

Will looked at his arm, which actually looked like it bent the wrong way. It positively did not look like how an actual healthy arm was supposed to look. "It's useless now. I can't do things like this."

"So that's what happens when your Semblance goes wrong...why didn't they treat it?"

Will moved his arm above the covers of his bed and tried to gesture with it. It didn't look comfortable. "Because they had more important things to worry about than breaking my arm-"

"Wait, what?" Ruby yelped. "Breaking it?"

Will looked at her like she had just told him that she didn't know what one plus one was. "Yes? When something heals wrong, you have to pry it open again. Doesn't matter if its infected, or broken."

"Ugh…I'm _so_ glad normal Aura doesn't do that."

He looked amused. "Normal Aura doesn't heal blown-out flanks or ruptured organs."

Ruby winced. "Too much info! …tell me later."

Ruby had wanted to come visit from the moment she had woken up, but duty had called so loud that it was impossible to ignore. Between writing a report to the Headmaster, copying classified information to her Scroll and loudly apologizing to General Ironwood for crashing a hijacked Onyx warship into his Kingdom, there just hadn't been any room for visiting time.

Yang, who was sitting at Ancilla's side, said, "So what do we do now? Wait for Matt to come back and break it for you? Or do you want to ask Nora? She'd love to."

Will offered her a weak smile. "I was…kind of hoping you would want to do it for me."

It grew very silent in the room.

Then Yang laughed, but it wasn't the happy kind of laugh. At first it sounded nervous, but then it quickly became angry. "What, you want me to just _break_ one of your limbs for you?"

"Yang, I-"

"No, forget it! I'm not going to hurt you and you know damn well why! I thought you understood that!"

Ruby did. She knew full well why Yang wouldn't want to raise a finger against people she loved, but she could also see where Will was coming from. It wasn't abuse if it was for his own good, especially not when _he_ was the one asking for it.

Will for his part remained perfectly calm. More than that, he even looked like he was aware of what he was asking her, because a look of guilt crossed his face. "I do. But this is different. You would be sparing me the pain and humiliation of doing it myself, because I'm not letting someone else break one of my limbs."

Yup, there it was. Ruby understood what he meant; someone willingly trying to break his arm might lead to him believing like they were trying to murder him, whether he wanted to or not.

Yang glared at him. "You've done that before?"

He nodded.

The blonde rolled with her eyes and sighed explosively. "Fine, but you owe me one!"

Again, he nodded, more resolute this time.

Times like these made Ruby realize why some people thought her team was so strange. In what other context was it possible to owe a favour to the person who broke your arm? It would be endearing to her, if she wasn't so freaked out by the idea of someone wilfully letting someone else _break their arm_.

Will was in luck that Yang always donned Ember Celica. Like, always. Ever since the North.

Yang tapped her finger against Will's arm, seeking out the place she needed to crack with his guidance.

"There?"

"There."

With a wicked punch and an spent shell, the bone was broken again, and Will gasped with pain. He then closed his eyes, grunted, and was still.

He had been through worse. Far worse. He would not scream.

Yang cursed under her breath. "Your pain tolerance is beyond normal."

"No…we just grow maso…eh, maso…the uhm…you know, when people get hurt and enjoy it?"

Yang raised an eyebrow. "Masochistic?"

"Yeah…that's the one." He opened his eyes again and glanced at his now-broken arm, before weakly trying to test it.

Yang reached out and took his shoulder, stopping him. "I wouldn't do that if I were you. Give it time."

Ruby glanced at the broken limb. What had happened that it wouldn't heal properly on its own? Was it random? Or was there something that decided when the rapid healing worked and when it didn't? "So what did you do with your arm to make it end up like that?"

"Dunno. I think I broke it."

Yang snorted. "Obviously."

"Yeah, but…" Ruby paused. She should have really seen that one coming. "Why didn't it heal normally? Did you do anything weird with it?"

"Beats me. I might have fallen on it…I don't know, weird things always happen on the battlefield."

"Not just on the battlefield," Yang said. "Our team is like, a weirdness magnet."

"Yeah, but we have fun. We always do."

Will rested his head on his pillow and stared at the ceiling for a few moments. "Fun…"

Ouch. "Come on, it's not like you never had fun," Ruby quickly said. "You said it yourself; weird things always happen."

"I don't doubt it, but…"

"So can you tell me one?"

"Hooo boy, here we go," Yang said.

"I…"

"Pleeeeaaase?" Ruby begged. "Just one?"

Will smiled apologetically. "I can't remember most of them anymore…I'm sorry."

"But there has to be _one,_ right?" Ruby pouted. "Anything?"

"Well…there is _one_ …a short one. It's not an actual story…but I guess it was fun."

Ruby took great care to not elatedly cry too loud. "Yes! Finally! Tell me, tell me!"

Helping Will realize that there were always things to laugh about was something that needed a lot of her attention, and because there were still a couple of hours to spend before the next match began, she figured she might as well do it now.

"There was this one time we had to steal sensitive documents from a military camp in Mistral…this big, secure encampment. Alice and I took two fireteams and infiltrated the compound. She was supposed to sneak inside of the main building, get the papers and get out…but there was one guard we didn't see."

"Damn. Was he that good of a ninja?" Yang asked.

"The guy was sleeping on the job."

Ruby snickered.

"Huh. So…not a ninja then."

"He only woke up because he heard us," Will continued. "So he looked around, and caught Alice sneaking in through a window. So very carefully, very slowly, he reaches for his rifle…only for _nine_ targeting lasers to appear all across his body."

Yang whistled. "Talk about overkill."

A little smile appeared on Will's face. "And then the guy raises his hands, goes "peace brothers, peace," and goes right back to sleep. Nobody saw us after that."

Ruby broke into a fit of laughter, while Yang merely smiled and shook her head. "Gee, real guard of the year material right there. What happened to him after the mission?"

Will shrugged. "No idea. The camp broke up quickly afterwards."

"So how old were you then?" Ruby asked.

"Hmm…ten? Eleven? I can't remember."

Ruby glanced at Yang, who looked back with an uneasy glance.

Ancilla stirred in her sleep.

"We used to be sent against mercenaries like them all the time," Will continued like nothing was wrong. "A ravaged camp or town could easily be explained away as a Grimm attack."

"People couldn't tell the difference between giant, man-eating monsters and a few groups of child soldiers?" Yang asked.

Ruby doubted if she wanted to know why that was.

"Not when we got riled up, because-" Will seemed to realize it, because he suddenly looked rather disturbed, and quickly changed the subject. "Anyway, those sort of things happen on missions. It's always funny afterwards, but at the moment itself, it can feel really bad"

"Yeah, no kidding. A bunch of kids breaking into some mercenary camp…we felt bad enough in the North, and that lab was abandoned."

Ruby completely agreed. Thinking about that place still gave her the creeps. "I guess being trained for those things helped. In our first year, we're only supposed to be shadowing Huntsmen and Huntresses."

Yang rolled with her eyes. "Emphasis on _supposed_."

"True," Will said. "But by the time _we_ got started, we were already imports."

Ruby frowned. "I uh…" she shot a glance at Yang, who stared at Will with a mixture of confusion and mild shock. "I…what?"

Will saw them stare at him and a look of unease crept on his face. "Imports," he repeated. At the things we do."

Yang took a deep breath, and didn't exhale again.

"I don't…that's not…" Ruby tried to find the right way to say this, but she couldn't think of any good way to put it. "I don't think that's…right…"

"It's not the right word?" Will quietly asked. Despite his soft tone, Ruby saw that his unease had turned into outright dismay.

Yang wordlessly shook her head. Ruby wasn't sure whether that was anger on her sister's face, or plain sadness.

"An import!" Will insisted. "Someone…someone who is very good at the things they do!"

Ruby gasped, seeing what he meant. "Oh! You mean ehm…the best? A master?"

"An expert," Yang softly said.

"An expert…" Will repeated. He sounded so defeated. "We were…experts…at what we did…"

Ruby looked back and forth between Yang and Will, her mind racing to find some away to fix this. Any way, it didn't matter how. "Alright…guess you're still a bit confused…that's cool…you know, maybe your head is still a bit weird after you found Ancilla?"

Yang didn't say anything. She just stared at Will with hurt eyes. Why didn't she say anything?

"Maybe…" Ruby didn't know what else to say and looked around the room, as if there might be something that could help her.

Professor Adamant was standing in the corner, his arms crossed

Ruby felt a sense of finality. He wasn't going to send them away now, was he?"

"Perhaps it would be for the better if you two left right now," the teacher softly said, confirming her suspicions. Even though his face was completely empty of emotions, he didn't sound harsh. "I believe it's team RWBY's turn to fight in a few hour. I suggest you two go prepare."

Will shot an alarmed look at Yang, which made Ruby feel really bad about leaving him on his own.

Still, she felt the message hidden in professor Adamant's voice.

Yang didn't. "But-"

Ruby reached out for her sister's shoulder. "He's right," she softly said. "We should come back later."

Perhaps it was the sight of Matt Adamant acting so normal that made her realize how serious the situation was. She turned to Will and said, "We'll be back for you. I promise."

He didn't say anything in response. He simply lowered his head and looked away.

Ruby felt something like a vice tightening around her chest. It felt wrong to just leave him like his, all on his own. She tried to make that feeling go away, justifying that, because Ancilla was by his side and professor Adamant would help him, he would be just fine.

It didn't stick. Not at all.

The two sisters silently left the medical bay. Ruby looked behind her, and saw Will burying his face in his hands.

It wasn't fair. They had won; people weren't supposed to lose when they won.

~0~

* * *

 **Beacon fairgrounds**

 **30 minutes before next match: RWBY versus FNKI**

The girl was glaring at her with an expression that didn't leave much to the imagination. Her face betrayed such clear anger and hostility, it was unreal.

To Blake, it was a painful reminder of how most humans had regarded her. Before the bow, at least. But that wasn't the case here; the girl was a Faunus herself. Her animal ears were puffy and brown and, most amazingly, she even had a thick, muscled tail that protruded from her cargo pants. Her brown hair looked somewhat unkempt and her arms were bare, revealing the thick, ropey scars that ran across her skin like angry trails of fire.

There was no mistaking the thick muscles that rippled underneath her skin.

Adam had once told her that only the most primal and savage Faunus people had multiple animalistic characteristics. Such a person would never be allowed in Beacon, not on Ozpin's watch.

Blake kept a close eye on the girl, even as other students walked past, seemingly undisturbed by this predator in their midst. Her mind raced as she tried to think of a way to just...get up and leave.

There was little doubt that the girl was after her; a dozen students had walked past the fairgrounds by now and the girl's eyes hadn't moved a centimetre.

Blake wasn't sure if the girl had even _blinked_ in the time she had been leering at her. The look in the Faunus' eyes though was way too much like that of a hungry predator to just shrug off. She had to get the hell out of there.

So, Blake stood up and left. And as soon as she did, the girl started walking towards her.

 _I knew it,_ Blake thought, and she stopped near the corner, intent on confronting her pursuer. She had been running away from so much in her life…turned away and hidden from so much things that needed her attention…there was no way she was going to do that here at Beacon. If her friends could confront the darkness in their lives, so could she.

And there was already no going back for her. She had made sure of that, back on that Onyx warship.

As she had expected, the girl pursued her. But Blake was ready for her. The moment she rounded the corner, Blake go up in her face and demanded, "Why are you following me!"

In response, the girl grabbed a fistful of her vest and pushed her against the wall, violently so. Her nails were long and thick, like those of a Beowolf.

Blake scowled and grabbed a hold of the girl's wrist, at the same time reaching for her weapon with her free hand.

She might as well have tried to pull away a piece of rebar for all the good that did; the bands of muscle in the girl's arm were iron hard and she easily shrugged off Blake's attempts to get free.

But she ignored her attempt to go for her gun.

"You stay away from Frost," the girl hissed at her.

 _Frost Schnee._

Blake's heart nearly skipped a beat when she heard that name and despite the emotional numbness she had been feeling for the past few hours, she felt a stab of fear.

"What do you mean?" She said.

The girl increased her grip and Blake wrapped her fingers around Gambol Shroud. "Don't play dumb with me Belladonna. I know who you are, and who you worked with."

Blake's mind frantically searched for a reason why this girl would confront her like this. She was a Faunus, she knew Frost. She didn't look like she hated him. That left only one option: Onyx.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but if you don't let me go, I willhurt you!" Blake snapped.

The girl didn't seem to give a damn about the threat. "As if your masters with the White Fang never told you the story of their triumph. Their moment of victory. Like _Taurus_ never gloated about "the destruction of Frost Schnee". Even your parents know that story!"

Despite the violence and the threats, Blake couldn't suppress the overwhelming surge of guilt that remark caused her.

Adam had. Even with the reappearance of the ghost of Frost, she would have never forgotten the horrible stories she had been told by her friends in the White Fang. The depraved things they expressed pride of.

"That was a decade ago!" Blake protested. "I was just a child then, I didn't -I had nothing to do with it!"

The things that had been done to the poor Schnee child. Her nightmares had lasted for _weeks_ and she had only ever _heard_ the stories. But that was before she had even been capable of fighting! Before she had ever learnt of the feud between the White Fang and the SDC!

"Tough shit. We were all children then. You're here now and he's here now and I am giving you one warning. More than most get."

Her breath smelled like raw meat and her teeth were _wicked_. What kind of Faunus was she? "I swear, if you don't let me go, I _will_ shoot you!"

The girl looked down at her stomach, where Blake had jammed the barrel of her gun against the fabric of her shirt.

And then she snorted, like she didn't even care. It made Blake realize that threatening the girl didn't mean a thing. She had met people like her before; the only thing that impressed them was an actual display of violence, an appeal to force. Doing that just _screamed_ Adam at her. She wasn't going to even try.

"You do that. People always try to fuck him over, especially the animals from the White Fang. So if I even see you _near_ him, I'm going to _gut_ you."

"What's it to you!" Blake demanded. "Why would a Faunus care about Frost? He hates us all equally!"

The girl released her and, without even bothering to give her reply, simply walked away, leaving a very distraught Blake alone with her thoughts.

~0~

* * *

Ancilla found herself waking to the steady trickle of an emotion that she hadn't experienced in a while

 _Sorrow._

It wasn't hers, oddly enough. At least, not as far as she was aware. Though "aware" was probably not the best description of her current state. It was an overstatement, really.

It begged the question: where _was_ she?

It wasn't the real world. She had enough sense to understand that she shouldn't be able to just walk around freely like nothing had happened, yet she didn't _feel_ like anything was wrong. Which meant that there was something wrong with what she felt.

And whenever reality clashed with what their own perception of the world, reality generally won out in the end.

So she wasn't conscious. Which left her on the blurry line of unconsciousness, where she could have ended up in a multitude of places. And looking around this place, decrepit and broken-down as it was, made her doubt that she had ended up in her _own_ mindscape.

In truth, merely glancing around made her realize that she hadn't quite found her way home yet. The air was misty and gloomy, making it difficult to see. The ground wasn't as much ground as it was a thick, dark mass of mud and filth that sucked at her feet with every step she took.

It was Will's mindscape, and it looked even more decaying than when she had last visited it.

Unfortunately, it looked painfully familiar to her. In her own safe haven, she could change the form and shape based on every little memory she wanted it to represent.. That _this_ place hadn't changed at all in the past two years didn't bode well.

"Williaaaam…." She sang. "Are you there?"

The more she focused on her surroundings, the more she came to understand that yes, this _was_ his mind she was swimming around in. But she wasn't _stuck_ here. She was no longer a resident, but a visitor. It was an unreal experience that truly felt out of place, like she was dreaming.

And she felt much stronger for it.

Ancilla focused on the tether that still bound their souls together and instantly found her little Operative. He was sleeping, but his sleep was plagued with unrest and fear.

Her physical connections to Will's mind were dashed to the winds. She knew her way out, _felt_ where she belonged. It was as if a completely different world had been opened up just for her, one that she could visit with a casual flick of her will.

…why was William feeling sorrow?

Ancilla experienced a stab of guilt and shame as she dragged his consciousness back to this mental reflection of the place where she had forever shattered his psyche. But she had to know. She had to be sure.

Ancilla closed her eyes, and saw nothing. When she next opened them, her beloved warrior stood next to her, glaring at the dead field of mud and hidden horrors with clear disdain.

"Am I…dreaming?" He asked.

Ancilla wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him, tightly. A hazy dream or not, it _felt_ real. "Yup!"

Lucid dreaming was still a new experience for him, though she had long since mastered it. "I'm…sleeping…they gave me pills…and I...did I take them?"

Ancilla felt his distress cascading through their mental link like waves crashing against the shore. It wasn't like him to experience such undiluted, pure emotions. It relieved her, but for some reason also disturbed her. "Your mindscape looks horrible. Are you ill?" She paused. "Am I ill?"

Will's emotional state was not unlike hers when she was about to break down crying. She wondered if he understood that. "I…" He clenched his fists and a tremor ran through his shoulders.

Within seconds, his composure broke and a sob escaped past his lips. "It keeps getting worse…and I try to remember, I really do, but I can't…it's not…" he broke down further after that, and his words became incoherent.

Ancilla gently embraced him, closing her eyes as she did. He did not need his words; she could feel the source of his distress as if it was her own. There was a mark within his mind and it was slowly growing larger, infecting his entire mindscape like a rotting wound .

The dementia. It was claiming his mind, one thought at a time, and it was slowly driving him to desperation.

She allowed him to come to terms with his own feelings, softly hushing him as she did.

"I can feel it in my body as I'm going to sleep…" he whispered. "And…and I can feel it in my head when I wake up…it's slowly winning out over me…and I can't fight it."

She felt his anguish intensify as he proclaimed his inability to fight it, and it was not hard to understand why. His entire life had been about fighting. It was the only thing he knew for real. Slowly losing to this invisible force that depraved him of his memories and ability to form proper sentences, without being able to do a single thing against it…it was a fate worse than death for him

But Ancilla was not going to lose him to something as _weak_ as a brain disease. Not when she had pulled him through so much worse.

"You're not alone," she whispered to him, holding on to her friend like her embrace alone could protect him. "We stand together, you and I, and you won't have to fight this alone. Every memory you hold rests calm within me, as well."

He didn't respond to that. He tried to, he really did, but in the end he was unable to remember the words he needed to express his feelings, so he simply closed his eyes and allowed the moment to last just that much longer.

Then, she guided him back to sleep, vowing to work at his Semblance once she discovered how to escape her own mind and back into reality again.

~0~

* * *

 **Amity Colosseum**

The Amity Colosseum was protected by a massive energy dome, invisible to the naked eye. Experimental tech, useful only for the most ridiculously-massive structures that couldn't be protected by normal means. A floating ball without defences, filled with thousands of people, all of whom would perish if even _one_ thing went wrong.

Frost wasn't sure if he should feel insulted or amused. The best that Atlas technology could yield was the closest thing to a floating graveyard.

At least there was yet another mock fight between a group of children to watch. Nonlethally this time. The bimbo and the princess were already waiting for their opponents, who were apparently cutting it close on time.

Some girl approached him from the left and he unintentionally tensed up.

"Hey," she said, and it took Frost a few moments to recognize her. She was the one with the silver eyes and the red hood. It was her team down there. "This seat taken?"

"Rose. There are a dozen untaken seats around."

The young girl shrugged and sat down right next to him. "Yeah, but none of them are next to you, right?"

How could someone be so oblivious?

"So how have you been?" She continued talking. Was this how she had approached Greystone as well? Unless those silver eyes of hers had some hypnotic abilities nobody knew about, there was no way that would have worked.

"Ten-thousand lien for the person who can provide General Ironwood with information regarding my whereabouts," he curtly replied.

She gave him a puzzled look. "Huh. Haven't heard that one before. Should you…be here…in the open? What if someone recognizes you?"

It wasn't like his face had been displayed on national television. Oh wait. "Just here to finish my business, Rose."

"Okay, sure…but it's kind of weird if you think about it. Will and Alice are a lot more notorious than you and…well, Ironwood doesn't publicly call for their arrest."

The girl didn't know? "That's because the good General can _predict_ those two. Or at least, that's what he tells himself. They don't _scare_ him as much."

Her expression shifted from uncertainty to unease in the blink of an eye. "Wait, the General is scared of you?"

Frost shrugged. "It's the only logical explanation. I don't blame him. Not for _that_ , at least."

"But…but why would General Ironwood be afraid of you? Did you…wait, you didn't do anything to him, did you?"

"It's not what I _did_ , but what I _can_ do that worries him."

"He's scared of what you can do? What does that mean?"

Rose was being very familiar with him. Not at all nervous. Apart from that teenage awkwardness she had going on, at least. She wasn't afraid of him. Perhaps a side-effect of all the time she spent around Greystone. "Ironwood doesn't use Huntsman and Huntresses like the other Headmasters do, but he still depends on them. That makes dealing with me his priority."

The girl looked so seriously confused…she honestly didn't know? Branwen hadn't told her? Then this would stir things up quite a bit. "In Atlas, people don't know me as Frost. They know me as the Huntsman-killer."

Rose carried her heart on her tongue. She gasped with surprise and a look of surprise crossed her features. "The what? Why would they call you that?"

Frost was about to explain to her the obvious when new activity on the "battlefield" below stirred things up. A pigtailed Faunus girl with roller blades and a cat tail zoomed around the battlefield, leaving rainbows in her wake. Her partner casually swaggered up towards the two girls from team RWBY, wearing a fedora and sunglasses. He was holding a trumpet in one hand.

Roller blades. A trumpet. Hunters-in-training with roller blades and a trumpet.

…roller blades and a trumpet and rainbows.

Frost was unable to formulate proper words as he glared at the center of the field, while the announcers did their thing.

"-starring Yang Xiao Long and Weiss Schnee on the homefield and Neon Katt and Flynt Coal as the challengers!"

His shock must have been visible to the girl, as she quickly recovered from her shock and snickered at him.

He didn't care. Blowing rainbows out your ass was the _last_ thing a soldier needed on the battlefield. What was wrong with these kids? Didn't they take their job seriously at _all_?

Sitting this close to the field, it wasn't hard to overhear the children talking.

"Hey!" Flynt said. "You Weiss Schnee right? The Heiress."

Little Schnee bowed her head in response. So polite. "I am."

"I take it you're pretty good with Dust, then?"

"I do my best."

Flynt was smiling, but it didn't look very honest. "Yeah, my dad was good too. Owned a little Dust shop of his own." Then his smile turned to a scowl, and he showed his true colors. "Till your father's company ran him out of business."

"What?" Frost growled.

The Heiress looked dejected now. "Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. My father has committed many-"

"Sure you are."

Frost hadn't felt frustration like this in a long while. " _That's_ your problem? The SDC winning out in _competition?_ You hold a grudge because of _that_?"

"Yeah, it seems a bit weak when you look at it like that," Rose replied.

Giving the issue any more attention would just distract him, so Frost decided to turn his attention to the kids' weapons. The girl had what looked like a pair of nunchakus, likely loaded with Dust. The boy…

Frost really hoped that the oversized trumpet wasn't his weapon.

The Faunus was in the process of verbally slamming the blonde down, likely taunting her to coax her into making mistakes. He would have likely done the same thing with Xiao Long; she wasn't known for her stability, emotional or mental.

"It'd probably take you a while, though, since you're so... you know, _top-heavy."_

Alright, he wouldn't have done the _exact_ same thing.

Rose rolled her eyes and sighed. "Oh, here we go…"

The holographic roulette finished and the field opened around the four combatants. It rapidly shifted into a volcanic area, sandy desert, steaming geysers and ruined buildings.

And then Flynt Coal proceeded to blow his overprized whistle from a stationary position and blow both Weiss as Yang back.

Frost shook his head. A single marksman could put a hole through the smug bastard's head. Hell, even a normal soldier could outrange the clown and perforate him.

Still, the Faunus darted into the sonic waves and used them to propel herself towards the two girls. She was fast and slippery, but her mobility was random and her attacks lacked any punch. She only succeeded in separating Xiao Long from Schnee and she disappeared into the urban biome with the blonde.

Frost turned his attention away from the melee fighter and instead watched the "musician" square off against the Heiress. Both obviously lacked that killer instinct that was necessary to thrive on the battlefield and it was unsurprising to see that neither of them was able to substitute that with killing intent.

Regardless, there was something to Weiss' attacks that this Flynt character lacked. A certain brutality that certainly had not been present during the Breach. Her movements were less superfluous, more precise.

Something was different with Weiss Schnee. Flynt Coal started blowing his trumpet again and the Heiress summoned a yellow Glyph to stop the sonic waves from affecting her. With one wrist gesture, she created half a dozen spinning Glyphs around her opponent, before using them to launch several volleys of large ice chunks at him. From one direction, strangely enough.

The Atlesian challenger performed a superfluous manoeuvre and leapt onto his knees to blow away her projectiles.

"Too bad all that money can't buy you skill," he yelled at her.

"Flynt, you're literally standing there blowing an oversized whistle!" Ruby exclaimed. "Don't you talk about skill!"

The Heiress completely ignored her opponent's taunt and used the series of Glyphs she had secretly places around him to pelt from multiple directions. Her opponent was unable to dodge them all and was sent stumbling.

Weiss then struck with a determination and timing that surprised Frost. She used her Glyphs to launch herself at Flynt Coal and diverted herself at the last moment by bouncing off another Glyph, setting herself up to strike him from behind.

Had this been a real fight, it would have ended then and there. She would have speared him from behind and he would have died. However, as they had all entered this match at the peak of their fitness and health, the Atlesian's Aura still absorbed and he was sent flying.

"You are the _last_ person who may complain about the Company!" Weiss then yelled at her enemy. "They have committed crimes that you cannot even wrap your silly hat around!"

Thoroughly frustrated by that rare moment of awareness and honesty on Schnee's part, Flynt Coal put his foot down and raised his trumpet again.

The Heiress darted away from his field of effect, but nothing could have surprised her for a second musician appearing next to the first, then another, and another after that, until four color-coordinated Coal's were playing in all different directions to catch her while moving.

Frost sighed. Just like all the Huntsmen and Huntresses, these children couldn't fight one battle without relying on their Semblance. He had seen it coming from a mile away and it still disappointed him.

All it took to end the overrated street-artist was a single strike to the throat or stomach, one blow landed to disjoint his breathing and eliminate his one combat ability.

"Oh no!" Yelled one of the commentators. "The cashier lied to me, that drink _did_ contain alcohol!"

The other commentator laughed. "What makes you think that?"

"I'm seeing quadruple!"

"No you moron, that's just Flynt Coal's Semblance. Ladies and gentlemen, Flynt Coal's Killer Quartet!"

For someone who specifically put "killer" in front of his Semblance's name, the guy didn't look like he had ever done any killing. As Weiss struggled to get back to her feet, Flynt tipped his hat to the audience, revelling in the attention he received.

Frost shook his head. Now he _really_ wasn't sure who he would rather see suffer a defeat in front of all these people; the spoiled little princess or the pretentious attention-seeker.

Glancing at the Heiress' teammate, Frost was surprised to see that both were still standing. The Faunus was giving the blonde a difficult time, as she kept outrunning her while throwing insult after insult at her.

Frost wondered why Xiao Long didn't simply break the little pest's neck. Seemed like an easy victory to him. Of course, she still had to catch the rat.

An explosion rattled through the urban biome and one of the old buildings fell apart and slid across the volcanic biome. Weiss seemed to gasp and looked up at the crashing building. She immediately gestured with her rapier and coated the Faunus' path into a wide patch of ice.

Flynt Coal used that moment of distraction her part to send several pieces of debris flying her direction with his trumpet, using his Semblance to boost their speed.

A wicked-looking piece of debris slammed against the Heiress' head and she staggered backwards, clutching her head. Then, she sagged and slumped to the ground.

Her Aura wasn't depleted, but a sufficiently-powerful blow could still cause lacerations and concussions.

Her blonde teammate saw it all. Her scream of rage went coupled with the explosion of the entire volcano biome, as if the territory resonated with her fury. Another building collapsed even as the Faunus slipped on the patch of ice and crashed to the ground.

Xiao Long was on her in an instance. A single, nasty hook to the girl's jaw served to knock her out cold.

"Oh damn! That was brutal!" The commentator yelled.

But the Heiress wasn't done yet. Even as Coal gave a shout of rage and stepped towards the blonde, she _struck._

Frost whistled softly as he saw the girl strike her enemy with a brutality he had _never_ witnessed any Schnee indulge in before. Even without her Glyphs, she was too fast for the musician to pin down and she proceeded to brutalize him with precise stabs and slashes that knocked him to the ground.

She wasn't done yet; Weiss launched Coal into the air with one of her Glyphs, caught him with a black one and then proceeded to send him slamming into the ground with enough force to completely deplete his Aura.

He didn't get back up again either.

Ruby muttered something under her breath.

"Alright, I'll bite," Frost said. "What changed?"

"I uhh…what?"

He gestured at the Heiress as she calmly sheathed her rapier and joined her comrade in the urban biome, not even bothering to cast another look at the fallen Flynt Coal. "That is not the little brat who tried to get past our checkpoint at the CCT. What changed?"

Rose let her head hang. "Well…Weiss was forced to kill one of the child soldiers aboard the Onyx warship we raided a day or two back. I believe she was an Operative, so…I guess it kind of hit home too hard. "

The girl didn't even wait around after that explanation. She immediately rushed to her teammate's side, as did Blake Belladonna, who had been sitting at a completely different place among the crowd.

Frost watched her leave, trying to process what she had just told him.

They had fought and killed an Operative? Weiss Schnee, Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, managed to kill off one of Onyx's most skilled soldiers? He had read about their raid, but…hmm.

"That changes things," Frost eventually said, to nobody in particular. He watched the four girls get together down in the center of four combat zones, celebrating their victory together as the crowd cheered at their victory.

It seemed that he had succeeded in driving a wedge between the Company and their Heiress.

~0~

* * *

 **Beacon Academy**

 **Mess hall**

 **30 minutes later**

Even with the sweet thrill of victory -and Nora's attempts to coax her into another food fight- distracting her from her thoughts, Yang managed to snatch her Scroll from her pocket about a second after it rang with a little message-tune.

+ _Congratz on your victory!+_ It said. The message was endearingly followed by what looked like an Ursa's attempt at an emoticon.

"Who's that?" Ruby yelled at her from the other end of the table, trying to get above the noise of Grace's exploding party poppers.

"My boyfriend," Yang said with a grin. She felt a sense of elation when she said that; neither team JNPR nor team LACG knew that she was officially involved with someone. Saying it aloud felt like the next big step.

\+ _Thanks! We totally kicked their asses+_

"Boyfriend?" Nora shrieked, somehow managing to filter that one little remark through all the noise going on at their table. "Yang Xiao Long is involved with a _boy?"_

"You almost sound surprised," Jaune laughed.

"It _did_ take a long time to develop," Ren said.

Lisa seemed lost. "Boyfriend? _Yang_? Don't make me laugh! You only ever hang out with that creepy pale- ouch! Goddamnit Grace, that's my leg you're kicking!"

Grace buried her face in her hands while Cho slammed his forehead against the table.

Yang didn't bother threatening the Adamant. She sent Will another text, asking him how he was.

+ _Want to meet up? I want to hug you.+_

The boisterous bruiser grinned when she read that. He had never been so straightforward with her!

+ _I'd love to. Got something to celebrate, right?+_

"I did not seem him today?" Pyrrha asked. "How is he?"

"Fine!" Ruby exclaimed, perhaps a little bit too fast. "Oh, just fine. He's…excellent! Yes!"

Weiss sighed. "Oh dear. Our leader sounds like an Adamant…"

"Hey!" Lisa exclaimed. "I take offense to that!"

"Sure you do…"

"And by the way, _you_ were the one who broke your opponent into a thousand little pieces on the floor. If anything, _you_ are beginning to look like an Adamant!"

Weiss uttered a small cry of indignation. "How dare you! _He_ had it coming! _You_ do it for fun!"

"I'll have you know that there is nothing wrong with violence for fun!"

Yang smirked and decided to stay out of that little discussion for the moment. + _Want me to take the rest of the team too?+_

His next message gave Yang the sneaking suspicion that her little soldier was feeling particularly brave today. + _Unless…you want to celebrate privately?+_

Yang felt her ears sting with heat. + _William Greystone, are you flirting with me?+_

+ _…maybe?+_

+ _Well, you suck. You should try it face-to-face, in your room. With the door locked.+_

Yang half-expected him to back out of that one, like the shy little thing he was. When he actually gave his reply however, she realized that he really wasn't joking. _+I would like that. If you want to try, we can make the xxx work?"_

Yang stared at that message for a few long moments, recalling every single moment she had teased Will about having sex with him and how much he had looked like a scared little rabbit in response. Even showering together had been taxing for his heart. But now he was actually serious?

…well, that meant she only had one option left.

"Excuse me," Yang quickly muttered, before leaving the dining hall and making a break for his room. She was so focused on trying to remember where she had stashed the "supplies" she had bought in the city, that she didn't pay attention to what was directly in front of her. On the very first corner on the first floor she slammed into someone and sent him sprawling across the floor.

"Hey, watch where -oh, Will, there you are!"

The pale boy grunted weakly and reached for his ribs. "Ugh…go find Yang they said. She won't break all your bones they said…"

Yang, completely unfazed, grinned and offered him a hand, which he took without hesitation. "I was just about to pay you a visit! Did you see the match? Did you see it?"

"Every moment. That hook you gave was so wicked I was surprised her head didn't fly off."

"Hah! Well, she was asking for it. Little twerp called me fat."

Will winced. "Uh-oh. That explains the violence."

"Yup. But I kicked her ass after she insulted mine, so no hard feelings. So remember the last time we sparred together? Where I kicked your ass too?"

He snorted. "I sent you through the bench press."

" _And_ you and I showered together afterwards. Well, I was thinking…wanna pick up where we left off?"

He smiled and took a step closer, before reaching out and taking her hand. "What, you mean round two?"

Yang chuckled and gave him a push. "Don't get smart with me. _You_ wanted to check out the xxx stuff, remember? What did you find?"

He pulled a face. "A lot. Not all of it pretty. You tricked me!"

"Hah, I'll bet. Anything strike your fancy?"

"Actually…I wanted to let you have first picks."

He had no idea what he was getting himself into. "Tease. What are we waiting for then?" Yang didn't wait for his reply and grabbed a hold of his wrist, all but pulling him along with her.

Will offered her about zero resistance as she pulled him along to her room. If she was going to do this, she was going to do it _right_. After team RWBY's first victory in the Tournament, she had ventured into the city to buy some…supplies. According to the shopkeeper, she hadn't been the first Beacon student to visit that particular little shop after the first rounds.

"What are we are searching for?"

Yang reached into her closet, remembered where she had stashed her supplies and then ducked under her bed. "Oh, you know…stuff…"

"So, stuff? Alright then."

"Yeah, ropes, strap-ons, that sort of stuff."

Ah, there it was. Hormone patch…supposedly the best kind of anticonception around. To be applied ten minutes before action…plenty of time.

"Ah…wait, what?"

Yang snickered. "Just kidding. Saving those things for the next time. Got my stuff, let's move."

~0~

 **Lemon warning**

* * *

When it came to fighting, certain things could be expected. You could prepare for things that you knew, and anticipate the things you didn't know based on similar experiences.

But that was fighting. Romance…was a whole lot more complicated. Will was still trying to figure out which way the bed in his room was supposed to be again, when Yang basically jumped him. The girl made no attempt to hide her lust when she pressed her lips against his and ran her hand down his pants, where her slender fingers left a burning trail on his inner thigh.

Will moaned and felt the blonde's hand reach for his waist. "What-"

Before he knew it, he found himself on his bed, with Yang sitting above him. She was already undressing herself. She had a small patch on her arm, right where the curve of her shoulder met her upper arm. An injury of a past fight?

Why was he thinking about that?

"You look like a deer caught in the headlights of a truck," Yang teased him.

Will felt his ears flush. "I -I don't!"

"Look at you…you're even stuttering. Here, help a girl out?"

Just like before, she grabbed his hand and placed it at the underside of her top, guiding him in pulling it off.

"Watch out for your hair."

"That's the _last_ thing I'm worrying about."

Finally, Yang dropped her bra as well, revealing her ample chest without even a hint of embarrassment.

She was breathtaking. His reluctance to touch her had become utterly trivial and now, he could barely control the urge to grab her and pin her against the bed with force. That thought was as disturbing as it was exciting and he could honestly no longer tell the difference between the two.

A small smile crept along the blonde's face as she sat down next to him. "Take off your shirt," she then ordered him.

He obeyed without question. He could feel her smirk burning in his back as he awkwardly removed the piece of clothing.

"That's a good Operative," she seductively said, hopping onto the bed and sending shakes through its frame. "Now sit up."

Again he obeyed. It was his nature be submissive to those who ordered him and Yang _knew_ that.

He did grow more conscious of his own body though. The scars and markings…they seemed so crude and ugly compared to Yang's smooth and mostly-intact skin. She liked scars, she had told him that and she never lied to him. But still...

Yang inched herself closer and snaked her arms around his waist from behind him, pulling him tightly against her. "The things Aura can't do…it can bring you warmth…and other things you've _never_ felt before." She chuckled and increased her grip, which made Will realize that she was sitting up straighter than him. "I've been waiting to do this since dancing together."

Will had to turn around to look at her, which only added to the rising sense of vulnerability. "Yang," he started, but she seemed to be in no mood to speak. Her open mouth met his and she grabbed him by the back of his head with one hand, pushing him further against her. Something wet and slippery pushed past his lips and circled around his tongue.

The kiss was violent. She ravaged him, giving him a taste of her barely-controlled lust. Adrenaline coursed through his body and he could feel himself stiffening. As his arms cramped up, a strange pressure shot through his crotch, which wasn't helped when Yang started running her other hand down his chest, eagerly exploring his body.

Yang broke away and gave him a smirk that riled him up more than it should have. He felt a wave of longing wash over him. "Wow, aren't you excited?"

At the same time, she increased her grip between his thighs and he gasped.

Fingers…hard… _good_.

There were absolutely no intelligent words that could come out of his mouth at that moment. It was like parts of his brain had fully shut down, leaving only the most primal and animalistic urges behind.

No effort in the world could compare to what it took to keep himself under control. He missed the moment where his pants came off, as he suddenly found himself naked from his waist down. Yang boldly pushed herself against him she proceeded to wring all coherent thoughts out of his head, pressing her breasts against his back. Smooth and supple, their weight almost drove him to the edge of his control. He had to fight just to keep himself still. To keep himself from wrestling out of her grip and _taking_ her.

His head was telling him to be careful. Something else told him that every second he wasn't touching Yang was wasted, and that she could take it all.

"You know," the bruiser said, her face hovering mere centimeters above his, resting right on top of his hair. "I think I can get you to beg." Her eyes had assumed their red color, certainly driven by her passion.

Each of his senses was being overwhelmed with stimuli he had never encountered before. The arousing smell of Yang's body, the lustrous feeling of her hair, it was amazing.

The blonde shifted and her firm breasts dragged along his skin. His hands were _useless_ if he couldn't use them to ravage every inch of her body.

Will looked at Yang's face again, meeting her blood-red eyes with his. Something gave away inside of him and his thoughts went completely disjointed. He spun out of her hands and _grabbed_ her, wrapping one of his legs around hers and sliding his hand down the back of her panties, reaching for the curved form of her buttocks. Her skin was smooth and soft, already much hotter than it had been at the beginning.

Yang moaned quietly when he moved his other hand to her bust and roughly grabbed her left breast.

A single thought suddenly jumped to the front of his mind and he forced himself to stop.

What if he hurt her?

"…so close," Yang said. Her voice was now thick with seduction and that didn't help. At all. "Too bad. Now you're _mine_."

Yang flipped him on his back, pinning him to the bed underneath her weight. She brought her lips closer to his neck, poking with her warm tongue at the exposed skin. It felt so _new_. Never before in his life had someone touched him like this, and it _frightened_ him. Had this been torture, he would have broken long ago. He was sure of it. "Go ahead," she whispered, her lips barely hovering above the nape of his neck. " _Fight."_

Her fingers brushed against his thigh and slowly moved upwards, sending shivers down his spine.

"Ah…" Will felt his breathing hitch. "W-wait…"

"Oh, I don't think so," Yang breathed. She took a hold of his wrists -both of them- using only one hand and pinned them above his head. "I want to see you _squirm -_ I want to make you _scream_."

Will struggled and pulled with his hands, but of course he didn't get free. She was so _strong_ …he wanted her to touch him. He wanted her to take his body and _hurt_ him but he was terrified of what would happen when she did. It was so damn confusing.

He gritted his teeth and looked up at the girl violating him. Her eyes were transfixed on his, but it wasn't her eyes he was worrying about. It was that other hand of hers...stroking and rubbing…it was killing him.

A particular rough squeeze with her fingers sent another sensation pushed the last remnants of discipline right out of his mind and he too couldn't keep it quiet.

"Is this so new to you?" Yang said with a mocking grin on her face. "Moaning like this…you never even touched yourself?"

"No…" Will weakly replied. It was a subject he had never even dared to _think_ about, let alone actually consider. "I…"

"Explains why you're so stiff. Here…let me _help you_."

Another gasp of surprise escaped his lips as Yang increased her grip even further and the blonde smiled. "My Operative Greystone. All grown-up and tough, until a girl gets her hand on you." She paused, looking somewhat confused for a moment. "You both, I guess."

Will muttered something in response.

"I know." Yang said, leaning in close and pressing her breasts against his chest. "I think it's about time you did something for me."

"W-what?"

She gave him the evilest of grins and grabbed him by his shoulders, pulling him up and getting him face-to-face with her. Offering him no answer, she enveloped her lips on his again, giving him another taste of her smooth, wet skin. Then, she ran her hands down the arch of his spine and groped his bottom, roughly digging her fingers into his skin.

Will widened his eyes and arched forwards, pushing himself further onto her embrace.

Yang pulled her lips away from him, a small trail of saliva keeping them connected for a split-second before it broke. She observed his response for a few moments with clear amusement, before asking, "That surprise you?"

He racked his mind for something witty or dirty to reply with and failed miserably. "…yes," he helplessly said

With Yang teasing him all the way to the brink of his self-control, he was eager to take some action himself. Take this into his own hands.

Was there a proper way to do this? Or did he just…

Will could live with the consequences. Before Yang could step up her dominating game, he curled his fingers around the elastic waistband of her underwear and pulled, yanking it down to her knees.

"Wow," Yang commented. "Eager to get the show on the road?"

Will barely heard her. He had never seen a girl naked before. Not from up close, not in a situation like this. His heart was beating like crazy and the stupid tension in his lower body was making him very hesitant of moving even the slightest inch closer, but his curiosity won the better of him and he ran his eyes over his partner's lower body, taking in every inch of her curved hips and milky thighs, the small scar that ran over her stomach and the distinct absence of public hair. Her skin was smooth and, when he reached out to touch her, smolderingly warm.

Yang was completely aware of the way her beauty had captivated him. She giggled and then _spread her legs out,_ displaying her…her womanhood for him. "Like what you see?"

It was a shock for him to actually see her for the first time. He found himself staring at the beautiful and intricate folds, slightly humid and a darker shade than the rest of Yang's skin, urging him to get closer and touch her.

And that urge grew very, _very_ strong.

And then his self-control broke.

Will's mind went into a blurry overdrive for the next few moments, which consisted out of him throwing himself against the blonde and pinning her to the bed, wrapping one arm tightly around her waist and bringing the other one to her lower body, resting it between her legs.

Yang uttered a cry of surprise when she was pushed back down onto the makeshift-bed. "Kya! Shows me for playing with fire."

The feeling of Yang's hands on his hips calmed him down somewhat, and he felt a pang of shame. Not just for letting himself go like that, but also for having absolutely no clue what to do next.

"Yang," Will asked, purposely not looking at her as he revealed the complete lack of a normal education, "how do I…how does a person…?"

"Yeees?"

"How do people do sex?" he then blurted out.

Much to Yang's amusement. She stared at him for a few seconds before breaking into a laugh. The sound of her voice echoed weakly off of the walls and the Operative could feel his shame mixing with frustration. "You…hmm. Of course you don't know. Well…that leaves only one alternative, don't you think?"

The Operative was about to ask her what she meant when he suddenly found himself lying on his back, with the blonde straddling him, pinning his wrists above his head. Again.

"Let me show you," Yang whispered in his ear. She then pulled him back into a deep kiss, wasting no time in pushing her tongue in again, wrapping it around his as she continued teasing him.

Too soon did Yang break their intimate embrace, leaving him yearning for more. She took his hand and gently guided him towards the warmth between her thighs. "Pay attention."

He couldn't distract himself even if he wanted to.

"Right…there…" Yang muttered, placing his hand against her scalding-hot skin. "Ah…a little bit up…little bit more…" A moan rolled of her lips and she gritted her teeth, arching her back at his touch. "That's…right there. It's called a clit. It's very - _oh_! Very important."

Yang's fingers were clawing and pushing against his, forcing them against the small but hyper-sensitive nub of skin with a feverish desire. He pushed against her exposed clit and Yang arched her back, bucking with her hips against his hand. "Ah! Just…just a bit lower."

His fingers were growing wet and sticky. Driven by Yang's exhilarating reactions, Will threw all caution aside and slipped one of his fingers inside of her. Her reaction was immediate; she loudly gasped and nearly pulled away.

"Sorry," Will said, slowly pulling his hand back. "Did I-?"

"Don't stop," she told him with closed eyes. "Come on…"

As Yang was trying to keep herself composed, Will went on the offensive. He rested his left hand at her hip, while starting to massage her with his other hand.

Her breathing grew heavier and a tremor ran through her body. As he pushed another finger inside of her, marveling at the searing heat that he felt, another moan escaped Yang's lips. Seeing the expression on her face could have been a reward on its own, had it not further increased the pressure and heat in his loins.

"W-Will…" she gasped, grabbing fistfuls of the sheet underneath her to keep herself steady.

The young soldier couldn't take his eyes off of the girl in his arms. Her lips, her ample chest, her legs. Everything looked completely perfect to him. "Is this…is this good?"

Yang's eyes shot wide open when he drove his finger into a particularly-sensitive spot. She gritted her teeth and violently jerked her hands back, ripping off half the bedsheet.

"Yang?"

The girl lowered her head with a sigh and then dropped down on top of him. The skin on her cheeks was as red as her sister's cape. "Enough messing around," she all but growled, reaching for his erect length with her right hand as she did. "I'm not waiting anymore."

"You're-"

Yang grinded her pelvis against his, pressing her warm, wet slit against his member. Her folds parted slightly against its length, enveloping him with her boiling, burning heat. "A-ah!" After a long drawn-out moan, she then reached for her nether lips and parted them slightly with her fingers, before aligning the tip with her opening.

"Ready?" she asked him with the most lustful smile on her face he had ever seen before.

Will could only gasp in mild stupor at the sensations that she was causing him. The feelings she caused him…they were like a different world.

Yang's smile faded somewhat as she lowered her hips onto him, taking his size into her until they met resistance inside of her.

The Operative gritted his teeth and was barely able to stop from crying out.

Yang grunted and shifted her hands, drawing them across his chest and digging into his skin. A savage grin played over her features and she pushed herself further down, breaking through the resistance inside her.

It felt so tight...her inner walls were squeezing every millimeter of his member and the scalding heat inside of her was so intense that it actually hurt him somewhat.

"That does that," Yang muttered, leaning forward and pressing her breasts against his chest. Her eyes were blazing red and her hair was trailing rays of golden light. "How are you?"

Still coming to terms with the angelic face hovering over his, and her luscious body driving him to his utter limits. "I…" he swallowed and tried to ease the tension that was shooting through his limbs. "I…Yang…" the only thing he could do was moan her name.

Yang moaned and burhsed a strand of golden hair out of her face.

Lying on his back with her on top of him…pinned down, unable to do anything…he _liked_ it. Despite the combination of pain and complete bliss that Yang was causing him, he was starting to understand. Or at least recover from the initial shock. He reached out and grabbed her behind, groping her as she was groping him. She gasped and, as if punishing him for that, slowly lifted her hips. Trickles of fluid ran down her thighs.

A sudden thought shot through his head like an unwelcome voice of reason. "Ah-! Y-Yang, what about…don't we…p-protection?"

Yang tilted her head and touched the side of his head. "Oh …don't you worry about that. I took care of it."

"H-how?"

"Just before…" she pushed herself down on him again, enveloping his length in her warmth and nearly drawing another scream. "In my room…as I said." She lifted pulled her hips up again, temporarily freeing his member from her smothering heat. "Don't worry about it."

Will was unable to prevent a groan escape from his lips as Yang pushed down once more, sending shivers down his spine. "Ah!"

"Mmm…moan for me."

At this point, he was ready to do just about anything for Yang. And as she continued, riding his hips and caressing him with her wet, squeezing folds, the tension in his groin slowly built up. His head felt feverish and he couldn't stop himself from ravaging her body. He roughly ran his hands down the curve of her spine and took a hold of her soft buttocks once more.

"Hah…" Yang's breathing was irregular and easily as fast-paced as his. "Ngh…"

Will trailed the smooth, pale skin of her bottom and, in the heat of the passion, pushed his index finger inside of her.

Yang went rigid and cried out in protest. "What -Will! You! That's the wrong…ah…"

"Wasn't that-"

She reached for him and planted her lips on his, just for a moment. "Naughty boy…that's for after the _next_ fight."

That sounded promising.

Before soon, the sounds of their combined panting filled the room. He lost his concept of time as the two of them worked each other on the bed, intertwined and lusting after each other.

Yang was _loud._ And the angel grew louder and louder still, until her entire body jerked and went utterly rigid. "Ah...Will…I…"

She spasmed and jerked, her inner folds contracting around his member with such intensity that it felt like she was going hurt him very badly. But that didn't happen. Instead, she dug her fingers into the muscles surrounding his ribs and buried her face into his hair.

It lasted for half a minute before Yang slowly relaxed, pulling herself together. "Hah…ah…"

"What happened?"

"That… " she pressed her lips against his and pulled him into a quick kiss, pushing his tongue back with hers. It happened too fast for him to attempt to fight back and by the time he realized that they were kissing again, she broke away. "That was…very good. Can't believe you lasted longer than I did."

"Uhm…Yang?" Will awkwardly said, reminding the blonde warrior on top of him of something important. He didn't want her to stop, he wanted her to continue. "I didn't…I mean, I couldn't… "

"What," Yang replied with a grin. "You didn't get to finish?"

He sheepishly shook his head.

"Well, let me rectify that then." She leaned in real close and whispered, "beg for me."

He did not hesitate one second. "P-please…"

"I can't hear you."

She moved her hips and sent a lance of pleasure shooting through his spine. "I -please!"

"Good enough for me." And with that, Yang started speeding up her movements. Every passing moment, every thrust that she forced him into sent him further and further towards an inevitable edge. Something was happening, he could feel it.

It couldn't last forever, no matter how hard he wished it could. Will felt a form of heat building up between his loins that he had never felt before, and his instinct told him to give in into that feeling. Allow it to take over and let it dictate his actions.

So he did. The blistering heat inside of Yang pushed him over his edge and he just gave in to her, allowing the overwhelming pressure inside of him to fade away. Something stirred between his legs and then this feeling of absolute bliss shot through his body. For several seconds, his senses seemed to completely shut down and he allowed himself to fall into Yang's embrace, shuddering and trembling.

"Hey," her angelic voice rang out to him, but he wasn't ready to open his eyes yet. A sudden wave of tiredness washed over him and dulled his senses, forcing his body to go completely numb. "Was that your first orgasm?"

Will nodded. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to just curl up against Yang and stay there forever.

The blonde gently caressed his face and pulled herself off of him, allowing a trickle of white fluid to run down her thighs. "You weren't too bad for a first time. I can get used to this."

He sure as hell could too. Was this what having sex was like? Baring and then passing his soul to someone he wanted to be with for the rest of his life? If so, he couldn't wait to do it again.

"Yang…" he said again, as if speaking her name could make sure that this memory would never, ever fade away. This moment was fleeting and sensitive, like something hanging on to a thin rope. The simplest disturbance could break it, ending it forever. He did not want that. "Please don't leave me."

Yang wrapped her arms around his chest and slowly exhaled, nuzzling him with her cheek. "Never."

They remained like that for a few minutes, after which Yang dropped a bombshell of a question on him. "Hey…ehm…Will? Do you…uhm…do you know how a Soul-Bond works? I mean, one between you and me? Do you think Ancilla can make that work?"

-0~


	20. Chapter 20

_**AN:**_ _Spoilers, I guess, but that awkward moment when Ozpin becomes a Catalyst?_

~0~

* * *

 _ **Item 0: procedure 042-Vytal**_

 _ **Catalyst-inducing psychological therapy**_

 _Under special orders of the Founder, the following addendum is attached to Catalyst Alpha-series subject two._

 _Subject two of the Catalyst Alpha series, code-named "Ancilla", is to undergo Procedure 042-Vytal at the first available opportunity._

 _All personnel assigned to Alpha-II are to be rotated out for two weeks of psychological counselling after four weeks of on-site duties. Alpha-II is to be detained in an undisclosed location. Any and all rescue attempts will be met with immediate termination._

 _Personnel assigned to Alpha-II must undergo heavy psychological screening before being cleared for entry. Individuals must be diagnosed with paedophilic disorder according to the DSM-5 test. Furthermore, individuals must score at least 60 on the ICD personality screening for dissocial personality disorder._

 _Throughout the execution of Procedure 042-Vytal, Alpha-II must be kept restrained in a hospital bed at all times. Hydration will be provided through IV drips. Feeding will be carried out twice per day through feeding tube by approved medical personnel._

 _._ _ **Attachment 1A**_

 _Following Catalyst Alpha-series subject one's repeated escape and suicide attempts, subject two is to be held within a soundproof holding cell, monitored by cameras 24 hours of the day. These cameras must be manned by personnel at all times._

 _ **Attachment 1B**_

 _Following Dr._ ████████'s _suicide attempt, camera sound may be turned off if the vocalizations of Alpha-II become too distressing._

 _Further details may be found at the bottom of this document_

~0~

* * *

He broke through the delusion like a drowning man gasping for air and he remembered what had happened and oh Gods, the things he had done, the people he had hurt and why, why was he still alive people should have put him down like the mad animal he had become and why would they suffer him to live after the lives he had ruined?

It was like a sensory overload, and Alan reached for his temples when it became too much to bear. It did nothing to ease the pain.

How long had it been? How long since…since he had been himself?

The acute awareness of how little there was left of him struck him harder than any bullet, or any blade could have ever done and he wanted to scream, to give a voice to all the bottled-up fear and pain and sorrow, but the only sound that left his throat was a choked groan because the old injury had never healed.

He couldn't speak, he couldn't read, he couldn't write and suddenly he was scared, he was scared, he was scared but there was nothing he could do and it was like parts of his mind were leaking away and he wanted to patch the holes up but there was nothing to patch them up with.

Stop. Focus.

He was him, he was Alan and he was himself. But he didn't know when that would end. He didn't know when that would end and when he would slip away again and resume his empty, dying life of hurting people. His name was the only thing he had left, and maybe even that would eventually slip from his grasp.

A gun. That was what he needed. This wasn't life, this…this pathetic empty _shell_ of the man he had once been. This…this was a fate worse than death, to live with a mind that was so ravaged, so damaged.

End it.

Alan slowly and deliberately lowered his hand and opened his eyes, scared of what he would find, of what he had left in his wake.

He was in a metal room. He could hear the voices of hundreds of people, screaming and shouting. Other voices drowned them out, excited and eager.

Alan clumsily made his way out of the metal room, ignoring the things that lay on the ground, things of which he didn't know the name anymore. He was dimly aware that he too had changed; his hair was long, unkempt and he had facial hair. Not much, but it was still there.

Scars, too. Some in his face, some across his arms. He didn't recognize his clothes.

He stopped in front of a closed door. Was it locked? Had someone locked him away?

His dread slowly increased as he ran his hand across the smooth, white surface of what was the only exit out of this room.

He felt his pulse quicken and, even though he didn't want it to happen, his breathing became more labored.

He didn't see a handle. He _was_ locked in here!

Panic started to set in and with it came this sudden desire for violence. Fighting back the first response that came to him -trying to kick down the door- Alan instead clung to the knowledge that all doors had a way to be opened and that his paranoia was because of his delusions, _not_ because of reality changing.

True enough, he found a button next to the door and he breathed a sigh of relief. His terrified thoughts were put the rest, if only for a short, fleeting moment.

The door opened and Alan took a hesitant step backwards, gripped by a new stab of fear.

A woman stood in front of him. She had ashen-black hair and large, amber eyes that shone with an intent that Alan could not find the words for, but knew was malicious. She wore grey pants and boots, a light-colored jacket without sleeves and a brown belt that could be filled with all sorts of weapons. There were long strips of clothing tightly wrapped around her chest, as well as her hips.

When she smiled, it never actually reached her eyes.

Something inside of his head screamed at him to not let it fool him, that this woman was dangerous.

"Don't you fret, Blackwood," she told him. "Your time will come soon…"

 _Blackwood._

Alan gasped and staggered backwards. It wasn't his name, it wasn't who he was! And she -he knew her, had _seen_ her!

A lifetime of training took over, cutting through the haze in his mind just long enough for him to understand that he was in danger. Once, he could have taken her, but he was at her mercy now. He looked at her eyes and he saw, he understood that she knew too. That she could overpower him if she wanted.

She looked him in his eyes and the cruel smirk on her face faded. She frowned, and it made her all the more frightening. "Hmm…it seems the flame hasn't died yet. You can understand me?"

As much as he struggled to regain the memory, he couldn't understand where he knew this woman from. He hated his traitorous body and dying mind, despised what he had become.

But he remembered what he had once been. He would not allow this woman to intimidate him.

Her eyebrow furrowed slightly when he remained unresponsive.

"She speaks about you, Blackwood. What you once were. The legendary soldier, the greatest warrior of Remnant. What Onyx did to you was nothing short of a tragedy. But she can give you back what you once lost. You can return to those days of glory."

Alan brushed past the woman and left the room. He found himself in a hallway with windows, none of which gave him a clear picture of where he was. They were all just sky and clouds.

He heard the woman sigh, _knew_ that she would attack him from behind, but couldn't muster the passion to be alarmed by it. If he died by her hand, it would spare him of having to pull the trigger himself.

But she didn't do anything.

He walked through hallways of glass and steel, past rooms with large machines of which the purposes were long since lost to him.

Footsteps echoed behind him, and he knew that someone was following him. He didn't care. It was obvious to him that he was in a place with lots of people; he could hear yelling and shouting, even the sounds of combat.

It was just like him to end up in yet another battlefield. Even when the last moments of clarity faded, he remained a slave to war.

Except it wasn't war where he had ended up. When he reached a window on the other end of the hallway, he could where the sounds of combat came from and it wasn't fighting. Not really.

Four young-looking people clashed in the centre of a massive, round combat zone, divided into four different environments.

He saw a girl trailed by rainbows, a boy carrying a musical instrument.

A girl in a skirt, with a blade of a most elegant design.

A blond girl, wreathed in flames.

Despite everything going on, despite _himself_ , Alan felt a smile play over his lips. It was a sad one, which was strange to him, because he had never really understood why some people smiled when they were sad, or why they looked sad when they smiled.

He remembered what he had once done to the blond girl, back when he hadn't been himself. When he hadn't been Alan, but the deteriorating, pathetic shadow of Alan. He was so glad to see that she lived.

The four were fighting together, watched by many hundreds of people. A large screen at the very top of this place showed their remaining Aura.

He knew what this was. It was a…

Alan frowned. It was a simple word, but part of an important tradition. When multiple people fought, again and again, until one remained, but it wasn't with killing and it wasn't for war. It was like sport.

He couldn't find the right word, so he settled with sparring.

Alan reached out and touched the sheet of glass that separated him from all those people outside. It hurt him more than it should have, which was really weird because it was just a pane of glass and if he wanted to he could break it and be with them but he shouldn't because he could never be with them and Gods that was why he felt so strange, so horrible, unable to join the very people to whom he had laid down his life to protect and serve and now he couldn't even remember why he had in the first place and he couldn't keep his desperate thoughts in order but then for better or for worse the moment of acute awareness faded.

He looked at the window, surprised to see people. Hundreds of them, all yelling and shouting. Their souls shone so brightly -it was too much to bear. It made his eyes water and sting just looking at them.

Disgusted, he turned away and left.

~0~

* * *

 **5 hours after RWBY – FNKI match**

 **Medical bay**

Professor Matthew Adamant was bored. A dangerous condition for someone like him. An Adamant needed nonstop action, nonstop stimulation. Hunting down Grimm or villains, sneaking through forests or stringing together speeches boasting his cleverness, whatever. As long as he could _do_ things.

But they had refused his assistance with the Tournament, and they had forbidden him from entering the commentator-room.

Something about his talent at being a commentator. Or the lack of it. Whichever made him feel less insecure about himself.

But things weren't completely hopeless! He had a most… _interesting_ patient to take care of, and in direct contrast to his other interesting patient, this one didn't distrust him!

This one was also a comatose young woman who wouldn't be distrusting anyone, but he would take a victory where he could get one!

Matt sat down in his comfy chair and, for a change of pace, looked at his Scroll. There were some bad things to clean up, and young Greystone had lapsed back hard this afternoon. Before running off again.

Degenerative dementia had never been anything but an incurable disease. It set a predetermined outcome for you and there was no escaping that. Nevertheless, Matt had hoped that a Semblance that worked like a rapid healing cycle would at least prevent it from growing worse.

It was odd, really. A lot of people seemed to think that Aura healed injuries, while it only temporarily reverted the body to a previous, nondamaged slate. At least, that was the current running theory in the field. Any and every Semblance had rules about how they worked, limits and possibilities. A finite amount of options. Greystone's Semblance wasn't abnormal in that regard; he could still get sick, his body expelled all foreign materials so neither poison nor normal medication would work…and the cases of bad healing would be horrible to work with.

But his Semblance wasn't stopping his brain from degenerating further. Problematic.

The professor shot a look at Ancilla lying in her bed. The IV drips were still attached, the heartrate monitor still worked and she was still in a coma. Nothing had changed in the past twenty seconds

Still boring.

At least the boy had friends. People who loved him, cared for him and wanted to be there for him. Very important. Things like tolerance and affection made life worth living, even when it was ravaged by PTSD and dementia.

He made a mental note to finish that book and continued monitoring Ancilla's health. Four years in a coma. Five if he took Greystone's memory gaps into account. From his point of view, from thirteen to seventeen. And then a year alone. Simple math, given no attention whatsoever. The boy was eighteen, not seventeen, and he didn't even know it.

Onyx must have tried to preserve Ancilla's body in some jiggery-pokery way, but she still had extensive muscle atrophy. Possibly some joint damage as well. Her throat would be the worst. If he was right -and he had no reason to believe otherwise whatsoever- her throat muscles haven't seen any action in five years. Completely inactive. Talking, coughing, swallowing, any of that would be complete hell for her. That was their priority for when she woke up.

 _If_ she woke up.

There was a flutter in Ancilla's heartrate, but Matt ignored it. He was too busy pondering Ozpin's little plan. After all, bearing the responsibility for both Will _and_ Ancilla's recovery was a daunting task. It didn't help that the medical bay was constantly flooded by little redheaded rascals and lovesick blonde bombshells. Funny enough, Ruby and Yang always seemed to stay away whenever Will fled his hospital bed.

Correlation didn't imply causation.

The flutter grew more intense and the machinery started beeping and booping.

Matt still ignored it and continued working at his schedule. Ancilla didn't have neurological damage, but she didn't know that. When she woke up, she would find herself stuck in a body that didn't work, attached to a machine via tubes. Like a sleep paralysis episode, but far worse.

Stuff of nightmares.

There was only so much that could be done with massages to stimulate blood flow. Her arms and legs hadn't been used in five years, so the muscle atrophy would be pretty bad there too. For better or for worse, whatever sort of medium they had used to store her body had prevented her from some of the nastiest side-effects. No respiratory diseases from a lack of self-sustained breathing or anything like that. Or the girl was just lucky. There would be no way to tell how her sight was of course; she had yet to wake up for periods that lasted longer than a few seconds.

But all was well within his capabilities of handling.

The Adamant noticed that the girl's heartrate was climbing steadily. Climbing above the average and into the danger-zone.

Uh-oh.

Matt put his Scroll away and saw that the girl was struggling to move her arms. Her breathing was heavy, frantic and labored. She clawed at her skin with pale, slender fingers, pulling at the IV-drips. She weakly groaned, straining to raise her voice.

"Hello…" the Adamant muttered. "That's awake behavior…things people do when they are awake. Oh, that's good. That's really good-"

Ancilla found a proper grip on the IV-drips and started tearing them out. No regard for personal safety or her own health, and a single look sat her face explained why. The girl was panicking, badly so.

"Oh, that's bad. That's really bad!" The professor immediately shot to her aid and reached for her hand, but he didn't get more than three steps towards her before something white-hot seemed to cleave through the air right next to him. He heard the sound of bottles breaking and metal striking stone. A sharp stab of pain shot through his cheek and he quickly scrambled out of the way before something _really_ bad hit him.

Ancilla didn't as much as glance at him as she struggled to free herself from what she perceived as yet another form of confinement.

Matt risked a look over his shoulder. It was as if someone had taken a massive cleaver and chopped through the cabinet standing behind him. It had been sliced open diagonally, from one end to the other and half its contents had spilled when the planks inside had collapsed. The cut carried over and through the nearest bed, where it had somehow chopped off one of the metal legs that kept the frame balanced.

He brought a hand to his cheek. His fingers came away wet, bleeding. There was a very thin but painfully-deep cut in his cheek. The form of the injury matched exactly with that of the damage to the room.

Not a cleaver. A scalpel. _Very_ thin.

"Through my Aura…" he muttered. "Now _that's_ impressive."

Whatever the hell just happened, he wasn't willing to risk getting his head cut off. It would validate _all_ Glynda's concerns about him running around like a headless chicken. No, instead he very calmly approached the girl, keeping his hands to himself.

"Easy, easy. Calm down, it's alright. You're safe here! Nobody is going to hurt you. No bad people here."

She ignored him. That, or she didn't even hear him. Her frantic movements would eventually hurt her, and he really didn't want to risk her moving around so much already. He reached into his pocket, found his Aura screwdriver and gently helped her pry off the last IV-drip. They'd come around to bandaging her arms later.

He reckoned he had about half a minute before reinforcements arrived. If he didn't calm her before that…

He didn't want to think about what happened if he didn't calm her before that.

"There. See? I'm helping. I'm a doctor, but _not_ the type of doctor you and Will hate. More of a professor than anything."

She heard that name, and looked up,

He had her attention now. She was staring at him with large, confused eyes. Interesting case of heterochromia; one eye was green, the other was blue. It was something different than all those symmetrical eyes he always saw.

Refreshing.

"It's so good to finally meet you, Ancilla." he continued. "You see, I've been treating your case for a while now. I'm professor Adamant, a teacher at Beacon. And you don't have a clue what I am talking about, do you?"

She stared at him like a deer caught in headlights, completely nonresponsive.

He could have slapped himself. People didn't just wake up from coma like in the movies; there was a serious threat of brain trauma and injuries and impaired cognitive functions. The wonders of Aura and modern medicine had drastically lowered the percentage of permanent mental disability, but this was a girl who had perhaps had Remnant's first involuntary soul transplant. That she was even conscious right now was a wonder.

If she was conscious at all. For all he knew, she was still unconscious.

"This might be a little hard to take in," the Adamant continued. If he concentrated _just_ right, he could already hear running footsteps. "Can you…nod…if you hear me- whoah, hey hey! Stay with me!"

Her heartrate went really bad and her eyes sagged close again. If he lost her now, she'd stay gone for a long while and he _refused_ to let anyone die on his watch. Not again.

He attuned to her Aura with his Aura screwdriver and, through his Semblance, provided her with a steady trickle of life-energy. It kept her from slipping away into her coma again, but she reacted as if he had plunged a needle into her neck. She cried weakly and jerked with her arm. The air grew blurry, if only for a split-second, and a long, thin crack appeared in the floor. In the solid, reinforced _stone_ floor.

"Come on!" Matt cried at her, trying to keep the girl from hurting herself. "Stay with me! Stay with me! You gotta fight, you have to! Stay awake girl!"

Her eyes were closed, but she wasn't gone yet. She groaned, weakly so, and one of the beds on the other side of the room got cut in half as if raked with an invisible scalpel.

Behind it, the window had been neatly sliced in two.

No Adamant had ever cared that they were in mortal danger and Matthew Adamant was no example. Ozpin had given him a second chance, had taken him in when all of Atlas cried out for his blood and he would be hung, drowned and quartered by a fish before he _ever_ let anyone die on him again.

"Yes, that's it!" He shouted. "That's your subconscious control over your Semblance reaching out, _grabbing_ it with both hands! Outside stimuli are making you feel threatened and they're making you _fight_ it! Come on, fight it!"

The door to the medical bay slammed open and, as he had predicted, both Yang as Will came running.

"Professor!" Yang cried. "What are you doing!"

"She's trying to wake up, but a coma isn't an on-off switch, you don't just wake! I'm trying to make her skip the days of delirium and slipping in and out of the coma again but I need her to _stay_ with me!"

Will didn't say a word; he immediately stopped by Ancilla's side, grabbed a hold of her arm and whispered something to her, too soft for the professor to catch.

Her struggles grew less frantic.

"Yeah, but…whoah, prof, what did you do to the room?"

The Adamant was _not_ keen on explaining himself to a teen and he was about to remind Yang that _he_ was the one with credentials reminiscent of credentials that could technically be counted as credentials seen as actual medical licences, but Will beat him to it.

"The lights," he called. "The lights are too bright for her eyes, someone shut them off."

Matt immediately aimed his Aura screwdriver at the light switch and turned it off. "The room, Miss Xiao Long, is fine. Ancilla just had a little episode, that's all."

"An episode? Professor Adamant, someone sliced the beds in half with a _sword_!"

"Yes, I'm aware of that. Only it wasn't a sword, it was something else. A projection, or an invisible weapon, or a rift in time and space, I don't know. One comatose problem at a time!"

Will clasped Ancilla's pale hand and held on to it as he talked to her, told her about things that Matt couldn't possibly understand without context, perhaps even using that abnormal, artificial Soul-bond between them to keep her from slipping away.

The greatest crime in nature, now serving to help pull the girl to the surface of consciousness. Somewhere, something was ironic, he was sure of it.

But whatever Will was doing worked; Ancilla calmed down and nobody died because of dismemberment. Yet.

Ancilla opened her eyes again. She blinked a few times, then squinted a bit to adjust to the light.

Will's sigh of relief was so human that Matt would have been moved by it, had he not been using his brain to process how the hell a comatose girl was chopping his medical bay up.

"Good evening princess…" he said, softly squeezing her hand. "Show me those eyes…"

Ancilla blinked owlishly. How aware was she?

"Hey," Yang softly said. She ran her fingers through Ancilla's hair, almost lovingly so, and looked at her arms, where the IV-drips had once been attached. Stains of red were visible through the hospital gown. "You're bleeding…"

"Ah, yes, that. Comatose patients tend to do that, unfortunately. We're lucky the tubes weren't attached to something more important. Did I mention we need to keep her awake?"

Will ran his hand across the wounds on her right arm. He pulled back her sleeve, laying bare a complicated pattern of deep-purple tattoos that seemed to faintly glow in the dim light.

The Adamant keenly watched Yang's response. The girl was like an open book; she carried her heart on her sleeve and that made it very easy to discover some things that would normally remain hidden. She winced when she saw the tattoos, but her eyes didn't contract. She bit her lower lip if only for a moment, before looking away.

She had seen them before. Perhaps during the redressing thing? But she hadn't grown accustomed to them…and it was easy to imagine why. It was a very rare sight, one that he almost didn't recognize.

And when Yang shot a quick look at him, Matt was certain that she knew it tattoos like that weren't all that usual.

"Those tattoos…" he started. "That's not ink…"

"It's not important…" Will muttered. He quickly pulled Ancilla's sleeve down again and brushed a strand of hair out of her face.

"Oh William…it's very important. It's the most important thing right now."

"What do you mean?" Yang asked.

She didn't know. Either he hadn't told her, or he didn't know either. Or she had simply never asked.

"That's Dust. Dust sewed into her skin, Dust interwoven with her body through symbols. That's a dangerous combination, Yang. A very old, very…powerful…combination."

"She's always had them," Will replied. "Ever since…"

"Really? Think about that, very carefully. Tattoos don't grow, they don't follow the body. Unless you apply a very specific pattern for the images to follow, it won't make sense after a few years."

Yang shrugged. "So? Why is that important?"

Matt knelt down next to Ancilla and, after throwing a questioning look at Will, slowly pulled up her sleeve again. "Grafting Dust into your body is a dangerous thing to do, even through tattoos…she wouldn't have survived the process if it had been done at her birth…no, this was much more recent."

Yang looked at Will, doubt and confusion in her eyes. "Think they did when they…you know…did the thing?"

Will closed his eyes for a few moments. A tremble ran through his body, like he was cold. Except it was room temperature. "…can't remember. They've been there for as long as I know her…why? Why does this matter?"

Professor Adamant rose to his feet again and gave the three some space. "No reason. Or rather, no reason right now. It's just a…a really rare thing to do. Few bodies are compatible enough…yes. No. Don't worry about it. No, you two came running! _That's_ the interesting part! Did she cry out for help? What did you feel?"

"Panic," Will was quick to reply. Matt could appreciate a really quick, really accurate reply. "Bad panic. It's…it's like when something traumatized you in the past, and it suddenly comes back and you're convinced you're going to get hurt all over again."

The Adamant looked at the back of the room again, where the great big invisible something had slashed big, deep gashes across its surface. "That sounds about right…maybe I should start over. Is she aware?"

Will hesitantly nodded. It was to be expected that he would be protective of the girl, but Yang showed that same passive-aggressiveness and she did it a lot more open. Matt noticed her grab a chair and sit down Ancilla's side, right between the girl and him. Something was different about these two today…he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"Right then." The Adamant fixed his bowtie and started anew. "Ancilla? I'm professor Adamant. A doctor, sort of, if you will. But not the kind of doctor who hurts people, like Onyx uses. I'm here to help. Let me explain a bit to you what happened. As you've been swimming around Will's head for a while, you probably know you're at Beacon Academy, in Vale."

Ancilla's eyes flitted to Matt.

"I will be asking you some questions from time to time, and I want you to blink twice to answer yes and once to answer no. Is that all right with you?"

Ancilla's lashes fluttered as she blinked twice.

Matt smiled and nodded in satisfaction. "Good, Ancilla. Good. Now then…you've been in a coma for somewhere between four to five years…a very long time. Long enough for your body to waste away. It hasn't happened to the degree that would be expected, but…"

Ancilla's breathing hitched and her eyes seemed to widen with alarm. Will squeezed her wrist to reassure her. It was interesting to see how the normally laid-back Yang seemed so concerned right now. More so than Will, even.

"It is rare for someone to wake up from a coma like that, artificial or not. You're very lucky. Now, I know that it sounds frightening, but it's behind you. You're awake! And that's all that counts." He allowed the three to take in his words before he continued. "Try not to dwell on the past. It would be hard to find a safer place in Remnant."

Ancilla glanced sideways with her eyes to Yang and then Will, confusion and anxiety clearly visible on her face.

The Adamant could only imagine what the girl had to be going through right now. He wondered about the extent of the mental communication that she was capable of now; the shock of her body suddenly waking like this had to be significant. Painful. Perhaps she was completely unable to use the Soul-bond between her and Greystone, making his sudden appearance the result of a painful feedback-loop trickling through his mind.

He was getting ahead of himself.

"I know it's a lot to take in," Yang gently told Ancilla. "But just listen to professor Adamant, alright? Ruby trusts him and we trust him."

Will shot her a look. "Are you sure he's not just a lunatic with a medical license?"

Yang hesitated. "Ruby trusts him and we trust him."

Matt smirked.

Ancilla's eyes lingered on Yang for a few more moments before turning back to him.

So he started explaining. "Yes, well, your body has physically aged, so whatever sort of status Onyx kept you in hasn't stopped your body from working. For the past four years, the only muscles that have been actively moving in your body are the involuntary ones. That would be your heart, your lungs, your digestive tract. I think. It appears they found a way to stimulate your voluntary muscles passively, but there is still…sort of extensive muscle atrophy to worry about. Possibly some joint damage, too."

Ancilla closed her eyes, but her brows furrowed in distress.

Her heart-rate was rising again. If he allowed her to slip into a panic again, there was a high chance she would end up hurting someone. Only this time, she wouldn't just be hurting herself.

"So what does that mean?" Yang asked, her voice laced with concern. "She can't walk anymore?"

"It'll be a while before she -you- can move around freely again, yes. If you were to try and walk right now, you would likely fall and hurt yourself…we have medication to remedy that, but they're kind of for emergencies. Like if there is a fire and you need to get away as soon as possible, emergency." He looked at Yang and Will and smiled. "But you have people for that, I see."

"Is it reversible?" Will asked.

"Completely and fully."

"How quickly? When can she walk again?"

Matthew looked at the boy for a moments, wondering how he could best handle this. Beacon wasn't a hospital, they didn't have therapists or rehab doctors. But Onyx would track her down in a normal hospital in a matter of minutes and they wouldn't have the expertise to handle a girl who had practically been living inside the head of a child soldier for the past few years.

Adamant rule number two. When in doubt, change the subject. "You need to work on your throat muscles as soon as possible. I have no reason to believe they've had any exercise in the past few years and I _do_ have reason to believe that Onyx provided you with nutrients through less than dignified ways."

"Excuse me?" Yang said.

"Tiny scars, all over her sides. Tiny feeding tubes, if we're being crude. Onyx kept her hooked up on dozens of small cables, if I'm not mistaken?"

"They did," Will confirmed. "You can still find their remains on that other suit."

Matt _knew_ that there was a good reason for keeping that thing. "So I'm right. Still, it's perfectly normal. It's perfectly normal; you're not paralyzed. Acute muscle atrophy, that's all. You can fix that by trying. Trying a lot, actually. I want you to talk, as much as possible, even if no sound comes out and you're only moving your lips. It will be frustrating, and annoying, but you will be back on track in no time."

"Shouldn't be a problem," Yang said with a weak smile. " _He's_ the shy one."

Will shot her a dirty look.

"Actually, how fast you recover is fully dependant on you. In Beacon, we can only keep you safe. We can't offer you the expertise you need…not without informing others."

"Not happening," Yang firmly said.

"I expected as much. You will need to do most yourself, then. Moving and talking and eventually walking…you won't be alone, of course, and your Aura can greatly speed the process up. But it will still take a while."

Ancilla blinked a few times, then she tried to move. She struggled against her weak muscles and tried to rise, prompting Yang to immediately reach out and support her.

The Adamant smiled. "Attagirl, Ancilla. Are you with me so far?"

She grunted, trying to speak. But her atrophied muscles kept her from forming proper words, and the end she weakly sighed and slowly blinked, twice.

"Good enough. Any questions?"

"Professor?" Will asked again. "When will she be able to walk?"

Matthew watched the boy's expression for a few moments, trying to think of a proper way to put it. "To be honest? I haven't the faintest idea. There isn't a lot of peer material to compare this situation to. I guess we'll just have to wait and see."

Hmm…perhaps those weren't the most subtle words he had ever spoken.

"That's alright," Yang said. "We'll make it work."

Alright, there was _definitely_ something different about these two. Something obvious, but he was missing it! Did Yang change her hairstyle? Did Will wear new shoes? There was just something about them…"I know you will. Congratulations on your victory by the way, Yang. I'm totally not biased and perfectly neutral."

"Oh, are you?" Yang asked with a smirk on her face.

Matt grinned. "Go Beacon."

~0~

* * *

Two and a half days after the raid on the Onyx facility, Cinder Fall finally reached the borders of Vale again. After that, it had taken them another day to return to Beacon Academy. The journey had left her in a considerably foul mood, which her companions had instantly recognized as a dangerous one. They left her alone and behaved in the tactful manner of respect that they had been taught when their crusade had started.

Speak only when spoken to.

Make no direct eye-contact.

Remain vigilant

Mercury and Emerald performed well. Excellent, as a matter of fact. It left Cinder without a proper outlet for her discontent. She could allocate more time to maintaining her network and discovering more secrets about her enemy, but every hour she spent outside of Beacon was an hour wasted.

She hated them. She hated William Greystone and Alice Mantis, the filthy, traitorous dogs. She hated Alan Blackwood, who was oh so desperately trying to recover from his own bran disease in the Amity Colosseum, hidden away from the world. She hated Onyx and _everything_ that represented them. She would tear down their foundations, destroy everything they had ever built and personally rip the Founder's heart from his chest when Salem finally discovered where he had hidden himself away all these centuries.

At least her allies were still useful. Neopolitan had done an admirable job in keeping the security officers and soldiers away from Blackwood's whereabouts. Without Roman, directing the girl was difficult, though not impossible. According to her, Blackwood was growing anxious. There was a clarity to his expression that hadn't been there since they had found him aboard the Colosseum.

That puzzled Cinder, greatly so. So much, in fact, that she refrained from visiting the Catalyst she knew had been placed in the special wing of the medical bay As the entire population of the city of Vale had turned their attention to yet another match in the Tournament, Cinder had visited the soldier.

The experienced proved to be…most enlightening.

Ever since she had escaped from their confinement, her benefactor had explained to her just how Onyx operated. How they worked, how they sought to change the world. She had spoken about Onyx' plan for ending the Grimm menace and keeping the Maidens safe.

Salem knew every dirty secret that the Founder had tried to keep from the world. It appeared that poor little Blackwood was more than met the eye. The legendary soldier, the world's greatest warrior, the dark forest that stood between the Grimm and mankind…he had been a Carrier for a Catalyst too. And just as Ancilla had, Attera had expired as well. The experience ended up destroying him in all ways that a man could be destroyed except, of course, the physical way. His soul was blemished, his mind was gone, his memories were corrupted and still he clung to that little shred of humanity left within him.

Ancilla had attempted to protect her Operative from her inevitable and metaphorical ""death", which Attera had apparently not. She must have retained her memories. But as that was the only difference between Greystone and Blackwood…that meant Attera was still out there as well.

And once Salem found _her_ …the world would be that much closer to being rid of Onyx.

Obviously, Blackwood's moment of clarity during the latest match had not lasted long. To think that Watts had once considered him the greatest threat in Remnant…pathetic.

All in all, the assault on the Onyx ship had not been a total failure. She had failed to snatch Ancilla away from her guardian, yes, but that was alright. There was nobody for her to run to, nowhere for her to hide. Beacon would fall soon. And when it did, everything would work out the way _she_ wanted it to.

But as it turned out, there was still one little thorn in her side.

Cinder had made her way to the medical bay in the evening of team RWBY's two-man fight against those clowns from Atlas. A little bird had told her that her quarry was resting in the medical bay, protected only by the meddling fool, Matt Adamant.

But when Cinder actually approached the medical bay, she discovered that her source had failed to mention the presence of yet another nuisance.

"Hello precious," said the girl leaning against the doors. She wore the standard Beacon uniform and her hair was tidier than before, but there was no mistaking the dark rings around her eyes and the barely-contained malice in her dark-green eyes.

"Alice," Cinder said with a sigh. She should have seen this coming. "Was simply dying too much to be asked?"

The girl shrugged. "I could say the same to you."

Cinder felt her pulse quicken. Her power flared to life as her anger grew, and she could feel her uniform faintly glow as she contemplated turning the brat to ashes.

Alice fingered a small, black box and smirked. "You really don't want to do that yet."

Cinder allowed her power to fade away again. That was a detonator. "And why is that?"

"Because I really want our deal to work out in the end. I found your…associate…as Onyx tried to relocate him. I really want to give him back to you…in one piece."

It looked like the girl still hadn't learned to close her eyes once in a while. Did she not know that sleep was as dangerous a weapon as any blade? Or explosive, for that matter? "Oh, you found Roman? What a… _pleasant_ surprise. Are you still eager for your five minutes alone?"

"Always."

Hmmm…even a thorn in her side could be used for her benefit, it seemed. "I take it you don't want to trust me until the deed is done?"

"So you're not just a pretty face…"

Now it was Cinder's turn to smirk. "I can assure you I am _much_ more than just a pretty face. You do remember the deal? Your assistance for the woman's life."

"Oh, I do remember. When can you set her up?"

"Two days, at most." Cinder replied. More than enough time to set the ex-Onyx professor up for a meeting, more than enough time for Alice to prepare and more than enough time for _her_ to finish her preparations. The Tournament would be coming to an end, soon.

"That'll work. I'll give you Torchwick back when I'm done with her."

"Do try to keep my associate relatively intact. We need him…not dead."

"Yeah yeah, he'll be fine. See you soon."

And then the weird thing just left, leaving Cinder alone in front of the medical bay.

That gave her pause. If the girl would just leave her in the presence of the Catalyst…all confident like that…she had to have a reason. A secret weapon, or powerful allies. Perhaps there were too many guests in the medial bay, which would make her presence there rather questionable.

Cinder took a few moments to listen at the front of the door. She did hear voices…including one very annoying, very-recognizable one.

The loon was still _there_. As always, his timing was horrendous.

She reconsidered her options, and decided to delay her visit to the little Catalyst. After all, the girl wouldn't be going anywhere.

~0~

* * *

 **Medical Bay**

 **1 hour later**

Yang had never actually understood what coming out of a coma meant. It always looked so easy in television, like waking up after a very long sleep. Well, it was obvious to her now that it didn't work like that. And according to professor Adamant, Ancilla had been _lucky_. Very lucky.

The girl was sleeping now. What little interaction they'd had, had exhausted her. After Will had assured her that she was simply sleeping and that she hadn't slipped back in her coma, Yang gave Ruby a call to let her know what had just happened.

"She's hanging out with Blake now," Yang said as she put her Scroll away again. "Tomorrow, it'll be team LACG's turn for the doubles and then the Tournament will _finally_ kick off with the finals."

Will didn't answer. He was staring at Ancilla's peaceful form with a brooding expression.

That was never a good sign.

"Hey, Remnant to Will? You listening?"

"You were talking about a Soul-Bond," he replied. "Between you and me."

Ah, that. He was brooding about that? It looked like a no-brainer to her. "Yeah, of course I did."

He gave her a look. "Why?"

Yang frowned. What kind of question was that? "Why? Because it's the perfect way for two persons to understand each other? Or because we'll immediately know when the other is in danger? How about because it's the only way I see to help you _not_ die of a brain disease!"

Grimacing, Will replied, "Do you have any idea what it _means_ to join in a Soul-Bond? What it takes? I've heard Ruby talking about it, too. It's not this romantic little thing that you just _do_!"

Yang flinched at the sudden edge in his voice. He had raised his voice; he never raised his voice against her. "I…yeah, of course I know that! I've seen it go wrong, remember?"

"When?" Will demanded. When Yang remained silent and merely stared at him, it seemed to dawn on him. "Oh."

"I get why you're edgy about this, I really do. But you need to remember that what Onyx did to you and Ancilla isn't what the Bond is about."

Mere seconds after she had said it, Yang realized how awkward her choice of words was. Luckily, Will didn't seem bothered at all.

"I know it's not. But the real deal is still a dangerous thing. There's a reason why very few people still do it. If you're Bonded with someone and they get hurt, _you_ get hurt. You'll feel every _moment_ of their pain. And when they die, it will be like your soul dies with them. It's not something you want to live through."

"People don't need a link between their Aura to flip out when their loved ones die. It'll happen all the same. And if it can help you…" Yang let the unspoken question linger for a few moments.

"I _was_ talking about people," Will responded with a deadpan tone. That was a first. "Other people. Between you and me, there's a lot more risk involved."

Yang blinked, confused. "Is it going to be dangerous for you?"

Will dropped down on one of the hospital beds and stared at the ceiling, chuckling weakly. "Not for me, no. You know I'm not exactly the most… _stable_ kind of person around."

Yang snorted. "Like that's ever stopped me before."

"Cone on Yang, think. Use your blond little head of yours."

Yang huffed. "Blond little head? Mister gets laid _one_ time and he becomes cocky?"

He continued like he didn't hear that last comment. "What happens during a Soul-Bond? You share simple thoughts and _lots_ of emotions. It makes combat more fluid, easier to communicate. But you also share memories and dreams."

Yang felt her smile evaporate. "Oh."

"And the penny drops. Let's be honest here; I'm messed up in my head. You know that, I know that. PTSD is the least of my problems. If, by some miracle, you manage to shrug off the emotion part…"

"I'll still need to sort out the memories and dreams."

He nodded. "If you and I…if we do this, you'll never sleep again. Every little memory, fear and experience I have will seep in through the Bond, and get you."

Yang struggled to find the words she needed, but only for a few moments. She wasn't going to give up on this. She wouldn't lose another loved one, never again. "You're not the only one with bad memories and nightmares, Will. The nicest girl in town can get the most messed-up dreams imaginable."

"There's a difference between "can" and "will". I-"

"How did Ancilla deal with that?" Yang then asked, cutting him off. "If it's as bad as you say, how did she do the memories and dreams?"

He opened his mouth to reply, then closed it again. Another try was more successful. "About as well as Ruby would. Ancilla was around her age, back then."

Yang scowled. "Hey, Ruby takes things very well! Better than a girl her age should!"

Will raised his hands in an "don't-blame-me" gesture. "I'm just saying. Put any young girl through that, and you'll end up with a lot of problems."

"Yeah, well, I'm not a young girl." Yang glanced at Ancilla, who was still sleeping, undisturbed by their discussion. "And neither is Ancilla. We're tougher than you think."

Will sighed. "She's still suffering from amnesia. Half the things she coped with, she can't even _remember_. Last time she recalled something bad, a hallucination tried to stab me to death in a hallway made out of mud."

Yang shook her head. "Ruby told me about that. She said _you_ were the one who held the knife."

Will snorted, too. "See? That's what happens when a Soul-Bond goes bad."

Yang threw a pillow at him, nailing him right in his face. "Oh, shut up. I can handle whatever your head tries to throw at me. Ancilla's coping, isn't she?"

"Of course she is, her memories…" His voice trailed off and he got to his feet again. "Her memories are dominant. Oh. Yang, I think we have a different problem."

"Oh?" Yang could see where this was going. She had been trying to think of ways to cope with this from the very start, and the solution seemed obvious.

"Any Bonding you and I would do, would involve Ancilla as well. It would be a three-way Soul-Bond…" He talked like he was barely figuring this out now, while Yang had seen it coming from the beginning. "It would be me and Ancilla swimming around inside your mind, you and her swimming around in mine -you wouldn't find _one_ place in Remnant with less privacy than inside your own head!"

Yang snickered. She couldn't help it; he sounded so cute when he was freaking out over nothing. "Oh, come here you!" She sat down next to him and placed her arm around his shoulders, pulling him closer. "Would you calm down? I understand what that means."

"But-"

"Hush! I said, I _understand_ what that _means_. It was probably the only way this was going to work out, anyway. I've been thinking this over from the moment you told me about her."

He looked at her like with that deer-caught-in-headlights expression that he had going on whenever things stopped making sense for him.

"If Ancilla and I need to double-team you to fix that head of yours, I would be fine with that."

"I…don't understand."

Yang had the feeling he did. At least, on some level. "I'm not normally one to share. But honestly? This doesn't really look like a normal kind of time to me. So if sharing you is the only way to keep you, I'm not going to complain too much."

"You're talking about a three-way Soul-Bond."

Yang smiled. "Duh."

He looked at her incredulously. "I -I haven't…I mean…you're serious?"

"Yup."

"You're serious. I don't really know what to say right now."

"That's okay. Take your time. If Ancilla is alright with this, I don't see what could go wrong?"

Will glanced at the sleeping girl again. "You won't find any objections from her…she likes you."

That was one hurdle taken. Still, he didn't look reassured at all. "You're worrying."

"Of course I'm worrying. You're always getting into trouble because of me. It makes me wonder if it was all worth it. Whether _I_ was worth it."

"Don't say that," Yang sharply told him. "Don't you ever say that. You've saved my life, you've saved _Ruby's_ life!" She took his hands with hers and didn't let go. "You've done so much for me, now let me do something for you."

He met her gaze and held it for several long, tense moments. Then, instead of being stubborn, he sighed and closed his eyes. He sagged down against her, placing his head on her shoulder. "Yang Xiao Long…" he muttered. "The day I can no longer trust you, I would be better off dead."

Any other person would be taken aback by a sudden, morbid comment. Not Yang; she knew that this was the closest he came to telling her that he loved her. It was definitely an expression of his trust in her, and she felt proud because of it.

So Yang merely brushed a strand of grey-blond hair out of his eyes, smiling as she did. "So…trust me?"

He wrapped his arms around her waist. "Always."


	21. Chapter 21

~0~

* * *

 **Beacon Academy**

The elevator finally opened and Professor Glynda Goodwitch stepped into the Headmaster's office, closely followed by General James Ironwood.

Goodwitch fixed her glasses, while the General straightened his tie. "Sorry we're late," he said.

Pyrrha Nikos, the poor child, looked appropriately overwhelmed. "Wait, what is this? Who are you?" She asked with a trembling voice.

Glynda couldn't stand seeing her so distraught. She came forwards and spread her arms, trying to sound reassuring. "You know who we are. We're still the same teachers and Headmasters you met when you arrived at Beacon."

"But we've got a little part-time job," Qrow Branwen said

"We are the protectors of the world," Ironwood added.

Pyrrha didn't look reassured one bit. "I've heard that one before…"

Ironwood scowled. "Yes, but we are the _true_ protectors."

"And we need your help," Ozpin said before the General could say anything else.

With that one sentence, the Headmaster convinced Pyrrha to come with them. They all entered the elevator and Ozpin took them down, all the way down.

With each floor that passed, Nikos became more apprehensive, until she finally asked, "Where are we going?"

Ozpin didn't move a muscle as he replied, "To the vault. Under the school."

The elevator continued downward through a vertical tunnel of dark green lights for what felt like an eternity, until it finally reached its destination. The doors opened, the passengers stepped out and Pyrrha Nikos gasped when she beheld the sight of the large, sparsely-lit hallway that could have fit a Nevermore walking through.

Glynda allowed the others to take the lead. She nudged James by his shoulder and quietly said, "Are you sure we shouldn't have told Matthew?"

The General gave her a cold shrug. "I fail to see why."

"She was his partner, his leader. He would have given his life a hundred times to keep her alive."

The General grimaced. "He's a bumbling fool. He would give his life for a stray _dog_. Besides; he of all people should understand concept of sacrifice."

It was a low blow, but Glynda let it go. "Even so, he has a tendency to pluck information out of thin air. His Semblance-"

"Has limitations. We're a long way from the surface now, Glynda. He doesn't need to know."

Glynda winced, but deep down, she knew James was right. She just hoped that they were doing the right thing.

"I have seen a place like this before," Pyrrha hesitantly said.

Qrow chuckled darkly, but Ozpin kept his calm. He always kept his calm. "Oh? Have you now? And where, might I ask?"

"In the North. An Onyx research base, deep underground, just like this one."

Nobody replied to that, though Qrow threw a questioning look at James, who pretended like he hadn't even heard the comment.

To Glynda, it only served to increase her hesitation about this. Doing the right thing was so damn difficult if one couldn't tell the difference between right and wrong anymore.

"As we understand the process now, when a Maiden dies, the one who is in her final thoughts is the first candidate to inherit her power," Ozpin continued the explanation.

"Unless it's a dude or some old hag. Then the power goes to someone random, and our job gets a lot harder."

Qrow was always ever so subtle. Though right now, Glynda supposed his no-nonsense attitude helped her stay calmer.

Not that she would ever tell him that.

"Why tell me all of this now?" Pyrrha softly asked. "Why not wait until I've graduated?"

"Honestly, we've run out of time. I don't know if you've not noticed, but things are getting a lot scarier out in the world. Even Onyx can't keep things under control anymore, and those guys are already messing everything up. And little William bringing his friend to Beacon seemed to have aggravated the Grimm even more."

For a moment, Glynda felt like someone was watching her. She shrugged it off as a by-effect of her proximity to the Maiden and continued onwards.

Pyrrha frowned. "Little friend?"

"That's the least of our concerns," Ironwood countered.

"Heh…I'm not so sure about that, James. No, _war_ will be the least of our concerns."

"Not a war between nations, no."

The group reached the destination of their journey, at the far end of the hallway. They stopped before a large machine with lit screens, hooked up to two rectangular pods. Only one of them was upright, showing a young girl clad in minimal clothing, with a burn scar over her left eye and across her face.

Glynda thought she felt someone near her and she looked around. She didn't see anyone, but…

Pyrrha stepped forwards hesitatingly. "Is that-"

With a heavy sigh, Ozpin said, "The current Fall Maiden, Amber."

The poor girl had her arms around her chest, as if holding herself for comfort. "She's…still alive."

"For now. We're using state of the art Atlas technology to keep her stable. But there is a lot about this situation that is... unprecedented."

For a third time, Glynda felt like someone was near and this time, she thoroughly scanned her surroundings for any sign of an intruder.

She missed the conversation that went on as she looked around the fault, but Nikos' angry voice brought her back with a start.

"If all of this is true, why keep it secret!? If this girl is so important... if we're truly on the brink of war, why not tell everyone?"

As Ozpin and Qrow answered the girl's questions and explained more about their precarious situation, Glynda couldn't help but feel…intimidated. Like someone had caught her doing something wrong, and she was now being judged.

"It is, but I'm afraid it's not that simple. Given Amber's condition, you won't be able to inherit her power naturally. However, General Ironwood believes he has a solution."

The General crossed his arms behind his back. "For the past few years, Atlas has been studying Aura from a more scientific standpoint; how it works, what's it made of, how it can be used. We've made... significant strides. And we believe we've found a way to capture it."

Qrow grunted. "Capture it and cram it into something else. Or in your case ..."

Pyrrha whirled on the General. "That's-"

"Wrong."

Glynda felt her breathing hitch and turned on the spot.

"Matthew."

Every person in the room fell quiet as the person in the room with them made his presence known. Matt Adamant stood leaning against one of the pillars, his gaze aimed solely at the floor. His bowtie was slanted, crooked. It would have given him a goofy appearance - _should_ have given him a goofy appearance- yet Glynda saw none of the foolishness that her colleagues often cited when poking fun at the Adamant.

She looked at her colleague, her odd friend, and saw only the man who had committed mass-murder in an instant.

Pyrrha had to feel it. She had to feel that something was very wrong. Still, it seemed her politeness won out over her trepidation. "P-Professor Adamant?"

Matt slowly looked up and met Ozpin's gaze. Without his famous grin, it was like winter in a moment. "Ozpin…for the very first time in a _long_ life, I am disappointed in you."

"Adamant, how in the blazes did you get here? What are doing here?"

James had never understood why Beacon kept the Adamant around. Never quite understood which opponent to fight and which opponent to _flee_ from.

Without ever breaking eye-contact, Matthew put the General down. "Don't talk to me. No _Huntsman_ has anything to say to me today!" He spoke with increasing anger, to the point that he basically shouted the last few words. He took a calming breath. "I've followed you into the darkest pits of this world. I've trusted you for _so. Long._ And then… _this_ happens."

Pyrrha looked around, frantically. "What do you mean? What is going on?"

Matthew's burning gaze settled on Pyrrha and something in his eyes softened. "Oh, Pyrrha Nikos…"

"Adamant," Ironwood sternly. "Don't."

Matt whirled on him. "I thought you'd run out of ways to surprise me, _Jimmie_ …but hello again. She's alive. She. Is. Alive! And you _kept_ it from me? All this time? What, you didn't think I would find out? How did you get this technology, anyway? Wait! Don't answer me. Pyrrha…do you know how they got this technology?"

"Matthew, we can discuss this later," Ozpin quietly said. "Now please…we have little time."

"No. Wrong. You just ran out of time. So…I'm putting an end to this."

Qrow crossed his arms, but kept quiet.

James didn't. "Really? You? Alone?"

The General's scepticism was only met by Matthew's seriousness.

"Yes. Me. Alone." The Adamant was all but glaring at Ironwood when he said, "It was always me alone. I have seen things you wouldn't _believe_ , I know things that you wouldn't even _dare_ to understand! I have lived your life a dozen times and _more_."

Ironwood didn't understand. He didn't back down. "I know what life you've lived, and you should thank Ozpin for what he did for you, on your knees! You don't know what's going on here, you don't know where Atlas got this tech." He took a step towards the Adamant, closing the distance between them. "If I have to stop _you_ as well, I will!"

Matt's voice was like a whisper in the night, and a storm in the heart of the sun. "Don't play games with me." His eyes briefly flashed to Glynda and Qrow and Glynda knew that he was addressing all of them. "Don't ever, _ever_ think you're capable of that."

Ironwood snorted. "If my memory serves me right, we have been keeping her here since she was attacked. Since you _failed_ to keep her safe."

Glynda placed her hand on front of her mouth. Matt slowly raised his head, glaring down at the General like he was filth on his shoes.

And then he smiled. A wicked, shark-like grin. "Pyrrha Nikos, Beacon's invincible girl. They told you what transplanting Amber's Soul would do. That her life-force would become intertwined with yours. Didn't they?"

Glynda suspected that, even if Pyrrha hadn't wished to, she would still have answered him. "Y-yes."

"Did they tell you what that meant? No? Oh! Well, contrary to what the General likes to say, _Onyx_ achieved a mechanical way of transferring one's Aura before Atlas did. If you want to see what will happen to you, you should read…" he reached into his jacket and produced a series of files. "These…"

Pyrrha slowly extended her hand towards the papers. "What are they?"

"Matthew…" Ozpin said.

"Case files. They're Greystone's. Or Will, whatever you like to call him. Interviews, medical records, summaries…everything I managed to scrounge up regarding Onyx's first _successful_ attempt at transferring a soul. Subjective, of course."

"Matt, please! There no need-"

"But," the Adamant continued without paying Glynda any attention, "If you still want to know what's going to happen to _you_ , I suggest you ask _him_ in person."

With one final glare at the General, Matt then turned on the spot and walked away. His footsteps echoed through vault, all the way to the elevator, leaving behind a distraught Ozpin and a trembling, frightened young girl.

~0~

* * *

She found herself floating in a haze of memories. Her senses were overwhelmed by thoughts and feelings that weren't her own, dozens at a time, threatening to drown her in sensations that ranged from alien, to outright horrifying.

And the line between her own sensations and those of others was rapidly fading away.

She was Ancilla, standing on a sandy beach in a white dress. A trio of birds soared overhead. She smelled the salty air, felt the gritty sand between her toes.

She was Yang, standing in a burning house as the ceiling collapsed, certain that she had accidentally caused the death of her own mother-

\- a sickening smell of burning meat accompanied a new image, that of a charred body in the middle of a massive field, where the all-consuming war had gone by. She stood as the lone survivor of the conflict, in a body that seemed too small to belong there.

She groaned and tried to focus on her own thoughts, her own identity.

Yang Xiao Long. Student at Beacon, daughter of Raven and Taiyang.

She couldn't hold on, and her mind was swept along by another memory.

The first time she had ever killed another person. She stood over his corpse, holding a rifle that seemed too big and heavy for her to hold. She felt a strange mixture of pride, pleasure and disgust. How old was she?

Seventeen. She -Yang Xiao Long- was seventeen, and she had never killed someone like that.

She tried to scream as a lance of pain shot through her mind like a blast of electricity. Her head felt like it was on fire.

She stood in the ruined remains of a house. Plants grew through the cracks of crumbling walls and the warm rain had washed away all memories, but it couldn't wash the blood that now forever stained the floor. Ancilla broke down crying when she saw what had happened to her home during the years of absence.

Attracted to her grief, the local creatures of Grimm tried to move in for an easy kill, but they underestimated the other emotion that slumbered underneath. With barely controlled hatred, Ancilla, through Will, slaughtered them all…

A different slaughter commenced less than a year later, on the plains between Arcadia and Luna. The sharp whistle of the General woke her from her brief moment of calmness and roused the eager anticipation for bloodshed and violence-

"Ah, there you are. Let's not open that door, shall we?"

Yang gasped when she "heard" a familiar voice. A warm, female voice. It sounded concerned, but also vaguely amused.

Why did her head hurt so much?

She crawled back to her feet and looked around. Her memory seemed to come back to her in parts. There was a hospital bed, mounting frustration followed by an amazing sense of victory, then a hand clutching hers…

Yang frowned. She remembered it now; the medical bay, Will and Ancilla, making a decision that would change her life forever.

The Bonding process.

So why, she wondered, was she standing in something that looked like ancient Mistralian temple-work? She didn't remember Beacon containing ancient architecture.

It was beautiful to look at, sure. Elegant arches of stone, intricate curves and gracious statues, adorned by white marbles…she remembered this place. She had seen it before…hadn't she?

But there was something else. Something that stood in stark contrast to the graceful temple and its serene atmosphere. A massive battlefield stretched out around her, as far the eye could see. Bombed-out remains of buildings and swats of barbed wire attached to rotting wooden poles occasionally broke up the cold, desolate wasteland of mud and blood and filth. There was no horizon to be seen; everything seemed to fade away into mist.

Her heart sank when she gazed at the dead landscape, torn apart by war and death. It felt like a blemish, a stain on something that would otherwise have been so beautiful.

Yang felt something warm and wet on her cheeks. When she brought her hand to her face, she was surprised to see it come away wet.

She was crying. She didn't understand why.

"Where am I…" she muttered.

"Dreaming. I think."

Yang glanced aside and saw that she wasn't alone. In all the madness and confusion, she had completely failed to see that Ancilla stood next to her. "I'm…dreaming?"

Ancilla nodded. She looked so happy; her irregular eyes were practically shining with joy. "In a way. This is our mindscape."

"Mind…scape?"

"Yup! You seem to be lost though. Your mind hasn't figured out how to deal with Will and me, so it sort of…you know...flipped out. It nearly cost you, dearly."

Yang stared at the girl. She seemed so confident, even though this had to bring back really bad memories. "My mind flipped out?"

"Yup." Ancilla reached out and took Yang's wrist. Then, she pulled her away from the edge of the battlefield, back into the Temple, where they were safe.

 _Wait, how do I know that?_

"I had to pull you away from the storm. You could have hurt yourself."

Yang awkwardly rubbed her neck. "Yeah…I ehm…this is kind of freaking me out. How are you even touching me?"

Ancilla stared at her, looking confused. "Because this is our mindscape. Our safe spot. The place where our thoughts meet."

"Why does it look like an ancient temple? And what's with all the mud and…bad vibes. Wait, no. Did it work?"

Ancilla glanced around. "What's wrong with a temple?" She then asked, somewhat timid.

Yang realized that she might have been a bit blunt there. "Sorry. But I really need to know; did it work?"

The girl stared at her with a blank expression for a few moments. Understanding slowly spread across her features and she gasped. "Oh, the Bonding! Of course it worked. You would have probably lost your mind if it hadn't."

Fantastic. That was really reassuring. "But I was seeing things…flashes of someone's life, constantly flickering in front my eyes. It was…" Yang couldn't find the right words to describe what it had done to her. She wondered if it was even possible to describe something like that with words alone.

Ancilla stepped closer, hugging her. Yang was taken back by her open show of affection, but she quickly realized that this was different. She felt a moment of familiar intimacy, like she had done this before.

"You're taking the short way around," Ancilla whispered. "But it nearly consumed you. There are things in here that you need to _stay away_ from. It _will_ hurt you."

Yang caressed the side of Ancilla's face, marvelling at how real this all felt. "I thought this was all in our mind?" She asked, half-joking.

"It is. But just because it's all in our mind, doesn't mean it won't destroy us if we come too close. The mind isn't as strong as the soul is. It can't handle everything."

Yang thought about the stark difference between Ancilla's mindscape and what she presumed to be Will's. "I think I'm starting to get it."

Ancilla smiled. "I don't want to see you hurt."

"But you don't know me."

"Yes, I do."

They stayed like that for another few moments, even though Yang had no idea how time was supposed to work in a place like this. It could have been an eternity, for all she knew. Dreams could feel like they lasted a lifetime and when you woke up, only a few minutes would have passed.

One thing she did notice though, and she hesitantly broke their embrace. "If this is our mindscape, where is Will?"

Ancilla blinked. "Not here."

Yang smiled, even though she was starting to feel a bit nervous. "I get that. But where is he?"

"No, really. You and I are sleeping, which is the only way your connection to us lets your mindscape connect to ours. He is not here, not even in his thoughts."

"Wait, that means he's not sleeping like we are? Then where is he?"

Ancilla didn't answer her. Her eyes flickered towards the desolate plains of mud and death, where they lingered for a long time.

"I think I know."

~0~

* * *

 **Vale Fairgrounds**

Sun Wukong wasn't exactly having the best day of his life. Neptune and him had been kicked out of the Tournament by two girls.

Girls! Two buff and badass guys like them!

Granted, Lisa and Alessa from team LACG had been more manly than them during that fight, and team LACG was easily the most notorious team from Beacon by now but damnit it wasn't fair! Neptune and him had prepared for so long, trained for so hard to get rid of the guy's fear of water!

What evil person would hack the arena and turn it into one big water-playground! It wasn't fair!

But they had lost fair and square. There was nothing to complain about.

Besides; Sun liked to consider himself a graceful loser. He was cool; he wouldn't lose his bananas over something like that.

But then Sun spotted something that would make any guy lose his bananas. He saw Alice and Will walking through the fairgrounds, together.

They looked like they were scheming.

Or conniving.

…scheniving. That was terrible.

And weird, 'cause Will always hung by Yang's side and Alice…well, she didn't generally hang out when people could see her. She was a bit like Blake in that regard. Only a more psychotic, murderous and violent version of Blake.

He really should stay out of their way. They'd have him by his tail in an instant and despite what Ruby kept saying, it didn't take a monkey to see that these two _liked_ what they did. People were afraid of them and that was terrible, but they didn't try anything to change that. They enjoyed it.

They weren't bullies, but they definitely weren't good guys either.

He really, _really_ should stay out of their way. Definitely, totally. Whatever they were planning, it didn't matter to him.

Didn't matter at all.

Nope.

…damnit.

They might be without equal in fighting, but they were helpless in any sane situation. Them planning together was like multiplying something negative with something negative. You ended up with something really negative.

Sun gathered all of his bravery, all of his stupidity, shoved all of his sanity and common sense away and approached the two child soldiers. "Hey guys. What's up?"

Alice gave him a glare that could have shot a Nevermore out of the sky, but she didn't say anything.

Will looked a lot less murderous than her, luckily. "Sorry, we don't have time. There's something that really needs to be done."

Yeah, that was what he was afraid of and it didn't sound good. "Alright, that's cool. What do you need done? Maybe I can help?"

Will frowned. "I don't think you can help. We've got a plan. It's…moderately serious."

"Hey, I can do moderately serious! Alice knows! We kept Blake in one piece!"

The two shared a look.

"I'm going into town to hunt down an ex-Onyx professor and beat her to death with my bare hands," Alice then replied in a deadpan voice that could have rivalled Blake's. " _He's_ helping me fuck up the club-owner when he peeps, and kneecap her should she try to run. You in for it?"

Sun stared at her. "Are you…are you being moderately serious now too?"

"It's a bad person who's been escaping justice for too long," Will informed him. "Trust me. We're doing everyone a favour."

Sun wasn't convinced. "Hey, don't take this the bad way or anything, but when you simply _tell_ me you're going to town to murder someone, it's kinda hard for me to trust you."

Alice smirked. "Then you're not as stupid as you look."

"Thanks?"

"But this isn't something you are going to help with. At best, you'll get in our way. At worst, you'll try to stop us from doing our thing. Either way, you'll get hurt."

Sun had the sinking feeling that Alice was threatening him.

Meh. People had been a hell of a lot more vicious and specific with their threats in the past. "That's kind of the problem, you know? I can't really let you run off and murder someone in cold blood." Sun realized how stupid he sounded, just like all those people in the movie who tried to stop the baddie and got killed because they knew too much. "That's what the bad guys do, and you're not bad guys."

Alice crossed her arms. "If you insist on getting in our way…"

"No!" Will snapped at her. "That's not what we do, that's not us."

"I'm just saying. I've waited for _years_ to get this chance and I won't let anyone take it away from me. I say we just knock him out and-"

"We're already breaking promises," Will all but growled at her. "If you want her, you do _this_ the right way."

The girl gave him a glare that could have blasted through a Goliath's armour, but she didn't say anything, so it was probably alright.

Sun had the feeling that he owed Will. He wasn't sure he liked that.

"Listen. Sun. You and your friends, you help people. But the world isn't black and white. We help people too. People like you help by doing good things. People like us, we help people by removing bad things. Every day that woman breathes, innocent people are at risk. Where we hit her, there won't be innocent people getting in our way."

Sun realized that debating morality with child soldiers was probably not the best way to handle things. He wasn't sure if they just didn't like him, or if they genuinely believed that killing people was a good thing, but _he_ wasn't going to be the one to talk them out of this. "I guess so…"

Will gave him an appreciative nod. "Thanks. This won't take long."

Yeah, he definitely wasn't the one to stop them.

So he should probably go looking for Blake. Maybe Yang, too.

One of these days, he was going to see something fishy going on, and he _wouldn't_ get himself involved.

~0~

* * *

 **Ten minutes later**

"So now they're heading into the city to kill this woman!" Sun capped his story off. "We got to stop them! Right guys?"

Blake and Ruby exchanged a look.

"Right guys?"

"She kind of has it coming…" Ruby muttered.

Blake nodded.

"Guys?"

"I think my dad would do the same thing."

"My father would have pulled her head off."

"Yo, guys!" Sun yelled. "Are we really discussing this? They're going to murder someone! We've got to stop them! Why aren't you more concerned about this?"

"Relax, Sun," Ruby said. "We won't let them kill her in cold blood. It's just that we're a bit relieved they picked _her_ as a victim?"

Sun seemed completely flabbergasted. "What? How is this normal for you people!"

Blake rolled with her eyes. Sun was cute and all, but he had a hard time working with matters that were hard to classify as "good" or "bad". "Let's just catch up to them."

The three of them wasted no time in getting to the landing bay, where transports to the city were taking off with so often that they only had to wait five minutes until one was available.

Still, Blake couldn't help but feel somewhat frustrated. She knew it was difficult to keep a low profile when a military hardhead was mongering about, trying to get you arrested, but Alice had promised to keep out of trouble. Seeking out and planning to murder someone wasn't exactly keeping a low profile.

Then again, who could blame her? The woman the two were after was a complete psychopath; the only person Blake could truly call evil without feeling like a hypocrite. She was bloodthirsty, sadistic and proud of it, and a threat to everyone around her. Even worse; if their idea was correct, the woman was responsible for crimes so heinous and disgusting that they shouldn't even be named.

And she had seen quite a lot of heinous deeds, which really said something about the supposed "victim" in this.

But, without irony, Sun was probably right. They couldn't just head into the city and kill someone. Justice didn't work like that. Blake had left the White Fang primarily because they too started dealing in their own twisted ideas of justice.

The dropship stopped at the designated landing pad near Vale's main district and dropped them off there. Normally, Blake always made sure her weapon was ready for action whenever they dropped off into a situation like this.

But right now, she felt somewhat torn between different outcomes. Sure, she wanted to stop Alice, but she had seen what this Professor Thyrian was capable of. She wouldn't lose any sleep if that monster ended up dead after today.

Blake wondered if that made her a bad person.

~0~

* * *

The location that Cinder Fall had revealed to her proved to fit the image of the cliché "bad guy bar" perfectly. It was a sleazy little club, where all sorts of shady people gathered to go about their business.

What sort of business it was, Alice never bothered to figure out. The people in there were the thrash of mankind, which always gave rise to rather vindictive feelings. Any sort of person could be used to sate the hunger without a bother if you just didn't think about the consequences, but it always resulted in this really shameful, guilty pleasure. Like a part of her knew it wasn't right.

These sort of people? The thought of ending them rapidly escalated into something primal. A hunger, a form of a horrible lust or thirst, only to be sated by bloodshed and violence of the worst kind. No consequences, no guilt, all the pleasure she could ever ask for until they expired. It was how Onyx had taught them do simply discard the consequences. Start with the scum of Remnant, work your way up from there.

Before you knew it, you didn't care who you were cutting.

Alice knew that a normal, healthy person didn't experience such feelings, but she had stopped caring about that long ago. When she approached the bouncer, this massive dark-skinned thug with arms so massive that they might as well have been tree trunks, any casual observer could have seen that her smile clashed with her appearance.

What they made of it? She wouldn't know; perhaps it was more fitting with the creatures of Grimm. That ravenous hunger and lust for bloodshed, manifested in one seemingly-innocent gesture.

Perhaps the man sensed her intentions. Perhaps he didn't. What did it matter? In the end, Alice still fucked him up. She took care not to vent everything that she had pent up, however. There was someone far more deserving of her unholy desires than this faceless, nameless little man who, for all this muscles and strength, couldn't prevent a teenage girl from ripping him apart.

Will didn't partake. He skulked off and headed for the back entrance, pretending that he was above the influence, that the smell of fresh blood and spilled viscera didn't rile him up. He didn't fool anyone; there would be people guarding the back entrance too, and he could be just as sadistic as she was. On rare occasions, even more so.

The entrance to the club was soaked with blood by the time she was done. She didn't bother cleaning herself afterwards. She'd just get dirty all over again.

She brushed a strand of dark-green hair out of her eyes and casually entered the club, where the loud music that the people were playing had covered up the high-pitched screaming.

~0~

* * *

It turned out to be a lot harder to track two seemingly-inconspicuous teenagers traveling through the city. Clad in civilian clothes, neither Will nor Alice really stood out in a crowd.

But, whether he realized it or not, Sun had still managed to get some very important points out of his brief conversation with the two child soldiers. They were heading for a club where there weren't any innocents around, which helped narrow down where the two could be heading.

It surprised Blake how well Sun knew the city already; he knew precisely which club would fit the description and which one didn't, while leading through all sorts of alleys and walkways that they normally never used.

They never actually _entered_ those clubs however, which made it somewhat difficult to verify where Will and Alice had gone. Most of them had bouncers to keep underage people from entering. So when Blake picked up the scent of fresh blood, she wasn't at all surprised to discover that the particular club from where the scent originated lacked such a bouncer.

Nobody seemed to miss them strange enough. When Sun moved around to investigate, it didn't take long for Blake to hear someone throwing up.

"Oh god!" Sun shouted from around the corner.

"Found the bouncer?" Ruby asked. She looked pale and she didn't bother to meet up with Sun. If his reaction to finding the body was anything to go by, it was for the better.

"Yeah, what's left of him! Holy shit, it looks like a freaking animal mauled him!"

Blake winced when he said that. Involuntarily, her thoughts went to the White Fang. The connections between Alice and Adam were starting to become glaring.

She quickly shook those thoughts off, though. Adam had no excuse. Alice did.

"Come on Sun," Ruby then said. "Just…just get back here. There's nothing you can do."

Blake found it disconcerting how much they were getting used to these situations. They found a badly-mangled body and none of them batted an eye.

It made her feel even worse for Sun, who had no idea what he was getting himself into.

It wasn't much better inside the club. The equipment was ruined and more than a dozen people lay motionless on the ground. Only three people were still standing.

Alice, Will and Cassandra Thyrian.

Blake's Scroll buzzed, but she didn't pay any attention to it. The woman was ex-Onyx; if anyone slipped up here, they could get badly hurt.

Alice and Will had surrounded their target, but she didn't seem concerned. In fact, she seemed very much amused by it all.

Why weren't they fighting already?

Ruby reached for her weapon. Following her example, Blake drew her gun, while Sun went for his own weapons.

Then, a lot of things happened at the same time. Alice and Will burst into movement, Cassandra laughed and gestured, Sun fell to his knees and Blake felt something vast, powerful and incredibly-painful worm its way into her head, crippling her with such agony that she couldn't even _think_ straight.

Blake fell to her knees as well, but they didn't support her properly and she fell to the ground. All she heard was Cassandra's laughter, Sun's squirming, Ruby's shouts and the screams that came from her own mouth. The pain was unlike anything she had ever felt, all-consuming and crippling enough to render her motionless.

How long she lay there on the ground, writhing and thrashing, she didn't know. It felt like an eternity. But finally the foreign pressure on her mind lifted, and she was able to _think_. The pain faded away, though she felt bruised, battered and, worst of all, violated in a sense she couldn't describe.

Blake groaned and her sight flickered for a few seconds. She blinked away the tears that had formed in her eyes and was about to try and relax her limbs when someone's arm entered her field of vision.

It took Blake a few moment to recognize the fingerless glove, but when she did, she was hit with a sense of relief so overwhelming that she could feel her eyes watering again.

"Yang…" she whispered.

Her partner picked her up from the ground, gently cradling her in her arms.

"Can you stand?" Yang softly asked her. Her eyes were red, but the expression on her face was filled with nothing but concern.

Blake couldn't muster the strength to even shake her head, so she merely closed her eyes again. She could hear Sun stammering and Ruby groaning, but she could also hear someone gasping for air. She didn't recognize that last voice.

Concerned, she opened her eyes again, if only to see what was going on.

What had just happened? What had that crazy psychopath hit her with?

She saw Ruby sitting with her back against the wall, glaring at the figure standing on the ruined dancefloor with unbridled hatred. Sun was loudly groaning, pressing his hands against his head like he was dealing with the mother of all headaches.

Then Blake saw her. She was pale, almost unhealthily so, with long, white-blonde hair. Her eyes had different colours, which gave her innocent smile something menacing. She was sitting atop one of the demolished jukeboxes, tapping with her feet against its black frame like a cheerful kid would.

"Oh, I don't think so," she told the ex-Onyx professor with a tone that managed to be both disarmingly candid and unquestionably malicious.

Cassandra Thyrian wasn't moving. She stood frozen in the centre of the club while a look of total horror and panic slowly spread across her features. She struggled for air. It was obvious that she couldn't even talk.

Or that someone wouldn't _let_ her talk.

Blake cast Yang a questioning look.

"The bitch is a mind-breaker," Yang explained without hesitation. "She uses her Aura to break into yours, like that Grimm does, only a lot more painful. It's how she pins down her victims." Then, somewhat louder, Yang said, "Finally met someone you couldn't dominate, did you, you crazy piece of shit?"

Will kept his distance, but Ancilla didn't. She hopped off of the jukebox and nearly fell to the ground as her legs collapsed underneath her

But Will was by her side in an instant and helped her stay on her feet. He handed her something, which Ancilla took with a smile that might have been sweet, had Blake not recognized the item Will gave her.

Everybody was silent as Ancilla carefully walked over towards the professor.

"Kneel."

With limbs that trembled with exertion, the psychotic woman fell to her knees.

Ancilla raised the gun, taking a few moments to look at it with the casual air of someone reading a book.

"You wouldn't…" Thyrian muttered with great difficulty. "You're not…not a killer."

A desperate attempt at playing with her mind and not good enough. Ancilla aimed the barrel at the professor's face and pulled the trigger.

Click. Click. Click.

Blake noticed she had been holding her breath and sighed with relief. The weapon didn't work.

"So that's how the safety works," Ancilla then said, before returning the gun to Will. "Oh well. It wasn't my kill to begin with. Have fun!"

With that, Will and Ancilla returned to Yang's side, while Alice casually strolled over towards the now-immobilized professor, whirling a knife around with her fingers.

 _Have fun._

Blake felt something akin to panic rising up in her stomach, except it felt much worse. They had come here to stop the killing, but now they couldn't do much more than bear witness.

Alice took her time to approach the helpless woman, circling around her like a hungry shark would. "And then the roles were reversed. Isn't that ironic?"

The psychopath didn't seem to appreciate it. "Do you want me to beg, Mantis? Is that what you want? You're pathetic."

"Begging? No… I just want you to die. What sounds you make while doing so, is up to you."

Yang moved towards Ruby and gave her a quick, but telling hug. "You shouldn't watch this," Yang whispered at her. "Come on…close your eyes."

When Ruby didn't respond fast enough, Yang took it upon herself to shield her sister's eyes with her hand.

Sun wasn't paying attention, or Blake might have thought to do the same with him. Alice graced them by waiting until they had made up their minds, before starting in earnest.

The last thing Blake saw before she averted her eyes were the expressions of those who had committed themselves to seeing the whole thing through. Yang's savage anger, Will's hint of amusement and Ancilla's dissonant serenity.

When the screaming started, Blake couldn't bear to stay for another moment. She rushed out of the club.

She didn't miss how Ruby, despite not resisting against Yang keeping her from watching, didn't try to leave either.

~0~

* * *

 **10 minutes later**

Alice took her time. That was one thing Ruby knew for sure about her. Alice didn't bother trying to hide her sadism, the obvious enthusiasm with which she committed herself to violence.

The sounds were disgusting. Indescribable. Ruby hadn't been able to stomach them for more than a minute. She had burned through every last feeling of malice she held towards the woman the instant the torture starting. Because that was what it was; cold-blooded torture against a victim who had worse things in the past.

Did that justify it? Of course not. Nothing ever justified something like _this._

But she was helpless to stop it, so she simply waited. Outside, together with everyone else. Yang, Blake, Sun and Will.

Idly hanging around while people were being hurt went against _all_ her principles. She had long ago given up in the black and white worldview of good versus evil, heroes versus bad guys, but there were things that just couldn't be excused.

Which left Ruby with a problem. Cassandra Thyrian was a monster. A sick, psychotic murderer. There was no redeeming her. If Ruby would ever consider killing another person, it would be someone like Thyrian. She would have argued against killing the woman, had she still been fit enough to stand on her own legs.

Now, she barely had the strength to talk. Ironically, Cassandra's attempt to torture her had been her own demise.

But torture was still torture, and Will condoned it. Worse, he _enjoyed_ it. He wouldn't look so amused, so satisfied, otherwise.

It made Ruby reconsider if she truly understood him. If she truly knew the real him.

Heck, this whole situation made her doubt whether she knew herself or not.

It took Alice longer than the five minutes she had promised. The screaming stopped, thank god, but that didn't change that they were basically allowing a murder to happen.

Sun stood. "That's it. I'm not doing this anymore. Guys, we're _better_ than this! We don't allow people to murder each other!"

"She deserved it," Yang said, showing a vicious side that very few people knew existed.

Sun didn't know, so he stared at her, incredulously. " _What?_ What the hell is wrong with you, people don't just deserve to get murdered! Especially not by a psych- a really unstable person!"

Yeah, nice safe…

Will seemed completely unbothered. "What would you have done? Imprison her?"

"Yeah!"

"She would have escaped. More innocent people would have died. Wasted lifes. I told you before, sometimes removing something dangerous is the best way to approach things."

"But…dude, we're the _good_ guys! We don't kill!"

That was Ruby's philosophy as well. She was just worried it wouldn't hold up anymore. Was killing Cassandra really the best solution? She supposed they would never find out, now.

Was that really a bad thing?

"Really?" Will countered. He was sitting with his back against the wall, but only in a literal sense. Ancilla was lying with her head on his lap, apparently asleep. "What about Grimm?"

"Oh no, don't even try that! Grimm are monsters! Mindless animals who only want to destroy stuff! And people!"

"And what about a Grimm with the mind of a person? Would you kill that?"

"If it was hurting people, yeah! Of course! But that's not-"

"Consider that woman a Grimm, then. A beast in the shape of a human. There are things about her that would make you run inside and kick her skull in."

Sun gave him a seething look. "I'm not _you_ ," he growled.

Will smiled, ever so subtly. There was a shimmer in his eyes that made him look much, much more dangerous than Sun ever could. "And you know that…how? You only find out who you truly are when you've been on the edge of darkness, when you've reached your lowest-"

"Shut up," Blake snapped. "Just shut up. This is bad, Will. If that woman hadn't…hadn't _hurt_ us, we would have stopped you two. Killing someone is one thing. Hurting them like that? Like _she_ does? It's unforgivable."

"What if Roman Torchwick had raped you?" Will suddenly shot back. Ruby saw what he was trying to say and it almost hurt her that he made sense.

Blake reacted as if she had been slapped. "You-" She snarled, but Will didn't give her the chance to finish.

"Answer the question. A what-if scenario. What would you have done to him, if he had done that? Explicitly, if he had raped you, what would you have done to him?"

Blake stared at him with a mixture of hatred and horror and pain. Stoic Blake, mature Blake, always in control, didn't know how to feel.

Will looked around. "Not saying that's what happened. But it's comparable. Cassandra broke half a dozen of my bones with a crowbar when she caught us. That's normal to us. We accept that. So I got off easy. Alice didn't. You know this already. So keep your judgement for where it applies."

Nobody could think of a way to counter that. Yang even agreed, despite not saying it.

The door to the club creaked open and Alice stepped out. She looked kind of alright, for someone who had just basically tortured her own personal demon to death. The only sign that anything was wrong was a single splatter of blood on her face.

How often had she done something like this?

"Half a dozen years of emotional repressing stuffed in half a dozen little minutes," Alice remarked, fixing her jacket. She sounded exhausted. "I uh…might have gone a little overboard there." She fell quiet for several moments. "Sorry."

Ruby supposed that this only made matters more confusing. Alice's sudden vulnerability…and perhaps a little regret, too. She definitely realized she had gone too far.

"We should…probably get out of here…I guess," Ruby said. "The finals start tonight and I'm dead tired."

Nobody disagreed, though Ruby had the sneaking suspicion Sun wouldn't ever hang around with them again.

Again, a victory where they had lost more than they had gained. That probably wasn't a good thing.

~0~

* * *

Team RWBY reunited late in the afternoon, about an hour and a half before the finals of the Tournament would kick off. A very lively Weiss barged into the dormitories and started explaining what she had done that day, before she noticed the tension in the air.

She stopped what she was doing and carefully asked if something had happened.

Blake hadn't felt like reiterating what had happened, so Ruby had informed her partner about what had happened.

The look of satisfaction on the Heiress' face was instantly replaced by one of shock and disbelief. At the end of the story, she looked horrified. "And Will let her?" She asked.

Ruby nodded.

"I mean…it's not like anyone would miss that maniac, but…"

She fell quiet when Blake gave her a glare. "It's _wrong,_ Weiss. You of all people should know that."

Weiss frowned. "Yes…about that…I've been talking to some people and -wait, hold on. You said Ancilla was there? Yang, do you care to explain?"

"Yup. She kind of saved our butts back there."

"She barely woke up from a coma!" Weiss exclaimed, about as shocked at that particular tidbit as Ruby had been. "How is she walking? Yang Xiao Long, tell me you didn't permit her to come along!"

Yang shrugged. "She figured out Will and Alice were up to, so she insisted to come along. Oh, and she wasn't walking. I was there to support her the entire time and even then, it exhausted her."

Weiss hesitated. "Alright. Then it is good to hear you're so…helpful."

"Why wouldn't I be?" Yang replied, her voice laced with confusion.

Still, Ruby didn't think it was entirely honest confusion.

Weiss visibly squirmed. "I think," she carefully said, "or _thought_ , rather, that you would be more…how do I put this…covetous about this?"

Yang cocked an eyebrow at that. "Cov-whatnow?"

Blake picked up her book and casually flicked it open. She landed at the exact page she wanted to be, as she didn't start flicking through the pages. "She means you're not jealous."

With a proud and somewhat smug smirk, Yang replied, "Oh, we found a way to make that work."

Ruby noticed that her sister didn't explain what she meant by that, leaving the team to think the worst. And with the offhanded way she mentioned it, that had to be her intention. Sneaky Yang.

"She did help us," Blake commented from behind "Ninjas of Love II". "And that's what worries me. She _just_ awoke from her coma. She shouldn't even be talking, let alone crippling a powerful Aura user like that."

"I dunno…I mean, wasn't that just her Semblance?" Ruby asked. She still felt somewhat shaken at the first-hand experience of a combat style only mentioned in old, dusty books. Mind-breakers…why hadn't their teachers told them _more_ about those people?

Weiss sat down on her bed. "Just like in that ship? Her Semblance is some sort of telepathy then?"

Yang cut in. "Wait, no, that's not right. Back in the medical wing, when she was waking up, things were went bad for a moment. Matt didn't really explain it, but half the room was messed up." Yang's eyebrows furrowed. "It was like someone had Yatsuhashi's sword and cleaved through a bunch of stuff. Beds of solid iron, cabinets…"

Weiss stared at her, aghast. "How does the Headmaster _explain_ these things to his funders?"

"You said Matt didn't "really" try to explain," Blake said. "So what _did_ he try to explain?"

"I ehm…that's a bit blurry. We were kind of struggling there…he called it a…a projection, I think."

Projection…what did that mean again? "Like the assignments?" Ruby asked.

"Those are projects," Yang said.

Oh. "Like defending people?"

"That's protection," Weiss said.

Yeah, in that case, Ruby didn't know. "So she gets in your head, but also destroys things? That's awesome!"

"No, it's not," Blake replied. "She's powerful, but she can't be stable. Not after what Onyx did to her. Back on that ship, those soldiers were pretty keen om keeping her locked up. And if you saw how she dealt with Cassandra…that's disturbing."

"What happened?" Weiss said, looking back and forth between Blake and Yang. "What did she do? You said Alice murdered that crazy woman, not Ancilla."

' _It wasn't my kill to begin with…'_

Yang chuckled. "She forced the psycho to kneel, then put a gun to her head and tested how the safety pin worked. Then, she let Alice do her thing."

Weiss looked appropriately horrified. "She did that? I thought she was the _moral_ one! Wasn't that the entire purpose of…you know…to give the soldiers someone to hold them back?"

"We don't even know what the purpose was," Blake said, speaking so softly that Ruby had to struggle to understand her. "But that's putting it way too optimistic. Child soldiers don't need ethics, or morals, remember? We don't truly know what Ancilla's purpose was. For all we know, it was to increase their overall lethality."

"Make them more deadly…" Ruby muttered. "But we don't know that. So we shouldn't judge until we're absolutely certain."

"I've heard that before," Blake commented.

"The point still stands. Weiss." Ruby blinked, staring at her partner. She had _just_ now realized how much she had missed her. 'Weiss!"

Half a minute later, after Yang and Blake had pried her off of the Heiress, Ruby said, "Where have you been! You were gone the entire day!"

Weiss smiled. It was a beautiful smile, filled with the right kind of confidence. Not arrogance, but pride. "I found Frost. He was with Ruby's friend-"

"Which one?" Ruby asked, somewhat puzzled.

"-the tall bird-man."

"Uncle Qrow!" Ruby happily exclaimed.

Weiss glared at her. "No. The _other_ tall bird-man."

The feelings of happiness didn't change there. "Granit!"

"Jeez Rubes, let a girl finish, why don't you?" Yang laughed.

"Right. Sorry."

"Like I said, I found Frost. I figured, with everything that happened, he deserved a chance. So, I heard him out. Him and Granit. They talked and I listened."

"That's new," Yang snipped. Blake kicked her. "Ouch. Sorry."

Ruby nudged her partner. "So what did you learn?"

"A lot. Not everything, but a lot. History of the Schnee Dust Company, of the White Fang. Onyx's part in things, even about Operatives and what they were really meant to do."

"We know that last part," Yang dryly commented.

"No, we don't. Frost said the war crimes and killing and…you know…is just a part of a greater objective. When they were ready, they would serve as guardians. Protectors of really important people."

"Really?" Blake didn't seem to buy it. "Like who?"

"He wouldn't tell. He brought the subject up like a comparison, a parallel."

"A parallel? To what?"

"The gray between black and white. Morality. Intentions and philosophy." Weiss looked very enthusiastic. It wasn't like her. What else had she learnt? "We didn't delve deeper into the subject, of course."

"Alright, I can believe that. What I can't believe is the part about the White Fang. What would Frost have to say about them?"

"He-" Weiss stopped, before adopting a more cautious tone. "He said that the White Fang has been around longer than we believed. Ten years back, a majority was already busy doing pretty horrific things."

Blake raised a sceptical eyebrow. "Really?"

"Really. He has…compelling evidence. He said that, whoever is leading the White Fang now, isn't just loyal to the cause. Supposedly, they now serve a greater organization, which is a threat to _all_ people, not just humans."

"And you're sure he isn't a bit biased?"

"Isn't calling someone from Onyx biased, bias on your own part?" Yang joked.

Blake couldn't appreciate the joke. "Thank you very much, Yang Xiao Long."

"Granit said the same," Weiss continued like Yang hadn't just made a horrible pun. "At least admit he isn't biased. He helped safe your friend Tukson, remember? _And_ he's a Faunus himself."

"But why is he still here?" Ruby asked. "He was here when we went searching the town for Torchwick, to deal with the mercenaries and other terrorists who were running around."

To that, Weiss had no reply.

Yang jumped from her bed and flexed, easing the tension in her shoulders. "Hnngh…yeah...don't know about you guys, but I don't think sitting here and moping about things that already happened will do a thing."

Ruby jumped to her feet as well. "You're probably right. We still have an hour to prep before Yang brings eternal glory to team RWBY. We should probably handle this _after_ the Tournament."

Blake sighed. "Fine. Grand victory first, serious talks later. How are we going to do this?"

"Dunno. We don't get to find out who we fight until the end, so we can't really prepare."

"Maybe attacking a crazy telepathic psychopath-murderer in the city wasn't the best course of action, then," Weiss sarcastically said.

"Hey, it all worked out in the end, alright? Besides; Ancilla was pretty confident she could handle it."

"People never like when _I'm_ pretty confident about things…" Ruby muttered.

As one, team RWBY exited their dorms. It was their plan to simply head to the Amity Colosseum, where pretty much everybody was gathering now, and wait things out there.

But they didn't get much further than a few meters before Yang suddenly stumbled and slumped against the wall.

Ruby was the first to notice it. "Sis?"

Yang muttered something, then reached for her head. Her knees were wobbling dangerously, like they could give away underneath her any moment.

"Yang?"

"F-fuck…" A sob escaped her lips, whereupon she quietly muttered, "I didn't…didn't know…"

That was when the screaming started, starting out like groaning cries and curses, before escalating into full-fledged shrieks of pain and agony that shook Ruby to her very core. She shot towards her sister as she fell to the ground, completely dumbstruck by the suddenness of it all. "Yang!"

Her pain, her anguish, it had to be unimaginable. Tears streamed from her wide-open, crimson eyes, barely visible behind her fingers digging into her skin. She screamed without restraint, like an animal that was being mercilessly tortured. Every muscle in her body was drawn taut underneath her skin.

Blake and Weiss came running, but there was nothing they could do.

There was nothing _Ruby_ could do. She was powerless to watch her older sister suffer because of forces she couldn't understand. She cried for help, clinging desperately to her sister, terrified out of her mind that she would lose _her_ too.

~0~

* * *

 _If this is the world, she wanted to destroy it. Better that nothing existed at all._

Every single creature of Grimm in a radius of fifty miles around Beacon Academy took notice of the sudden eruption of volatile, insane, human emotions. The despair of it all drove them to a frenzy.

~0~

* * *

Ozpin felt it more than that he heard it. A shift in the air, a sudden tremor in the atmosphere. It nagged at him, whispered in the back of his mind that something had gone terribly, _terribly_ wrong. For a moment, he feared that the Fall Maiden had perished, despite James claims that the machine would keep her alive.

But just for a moment. When that passed, he realized that no, it wasn't that. It was far worse.

The Headmaster grabbed his cane and headed for the elevator. It barely started descending when a shock rippled through the Academy, causing the entire structure to tremble.

Which was impossible.

No sooner had the elevator come to a stop or Ozpin hurried out, trying to orient himself towards the source of this malicious disturbance.

It turned out that there was no need for him to seek it out, as _it_ sought out _him_.

The mighty walls of the school crumbled and came apart when something impossibly-fast tore through them, like a great wind. The school trembled in its foundations. Windows shattered, rocks were dashed against rocks and the ground quaked when something massive impacted on it.

The Headmaster wanted to theorize that they were under attack, that their enemy had chosen this hour of the Tournament to strike, while the protectors were keeping the Colosseum safe. He discarded that reasoning when he realized that the noises weren't those of monsters hitting the ground, but sections of his Academy. His school was tearing itself apart at a massive scale.

And the power responsible far, _far_ outmatched most of his adversaries.

That shift in the air…now he understood it. The source would be the medical bay.

Ozpin was about to make his way through the hallway when the air in front of him blurred, if only for an instant.

And in that instant, a nigh-invisible force pierced through the entire hallway, neatly cutting it in half diagonally. The Headmaster stepped back to prevent the destructive energy from striking _him_ , too. He had little doubt that Aura would stop this monstrous, malicious force.

A quick glance through the nearest window revealed to him the scope of this assault on his school. It was as if someone had taken a blade and viciously maimed every section of the building in sight, only on a scale so incredibly large that this couldn't possibly be intentional sabotage.

The Headmaster knew what this was, _who_ this was. He had been warned against this. Everybody had been terrified of what would happen when she regained her senses, her memories, and he believed this was the end-result.

Had he been foolish, to believe that the good would out over the wicked?

Alas, if he did not put a stop to this, he would never find out.

The Headmaster was far from powerless. In fact, he was willing to go as far as to think he was one of the most powerful individuals around. One did not live as long as he did without picking up a few skills. In addition, one did not live as long as he did without being able to _utilize_ those skills to ward off all the enemies he had made.

It was almost ironic, then, that the opponent who had the largest chance to maim him wasn't actively trying to do so. This level of destruction, immense as it was, was effectively directionless. Like a wounded animal lashing out at everything it saw, or a despairing young woman with the power to actually _succeed_ in attacking everything she saw.

Ozpin imagined a person who, at this very moment, had faced nothing but endless pain and hardship, with obstacles at every turn, but who had somehow managed to find a niche for herself and to find happiness. He further imagined that the end to her peaceful thoughts came from within, when her own past caught up with her and made her realize that no, her soul had never quite been intact and yes, she did have the power to make the world suffer because of it.

The Headmaster took only about thirty seconds to reach his destination. In those thirty seconds, the girl wreaked unimaginable havoc upon Beacon Academy. To his left, a section containing at least three classrooms was severed from the main building in one fell strike and collapsed on itself. To his right, the largest and oldest tower of the entire Academy was bisected not once, not twice, but three times, under different angles, instantaneously.

All this mayhem, all this destruction, directed from a single spot in the medical bay. But why? For what reason? What could Onyx possibly have done to her to warrant this violence?

Finding the girl proved to be a whole lot more difficult than he initially speculated. Being this near to her, the interior of the Academy was unrecognizable. It had been thoroughly wrecked. Hallways had collapsed, rooms had been carved in two and an entire section had been brought down.

Ozpin saw someone lying against a collapsed wall at the bottom of the slanted surface of what had once been the medical bay. He supposed that, in her desire to see the world around her in pieces, Ancilla hadn't realized who she was hurting.

His relief to see that young William still looked intact lasted for mere seconds before that too faded away. The boy wasn't breathing.

The Headmaster felt the weight on his shoulders increase that much more. He continued upwards, across the cut-apart ruin of the medical bay, to the disturbed young woman who was tearing apart his Academy. There, he laid his eyes on her prone, fragile form, lying on the ground with her arms hugged tightly against her chest, protected behind a whirlwind of invisible blades and semi-transparent barriers.

The girl's closed eyes opened.

In an instant, Ozpin conjured up a protective barrier of his own to protect him, while he braced himself for the inevitable storm.

The force to annihilate everything slammed into his field. It took all but a single heartbeat for the power to smash through his own barrier, but time had never been quite the same for Ozpin as it was for others. In the single heartbeat it took the invisible force to tear through the strongest barrier he could muster, he came to understand its properties.

It was thin. He hadn't expected that. Impossibly-thin, yet so durable that he expected the combined firepower in all of James' fleet couldn't have breached it.

It also wasn't a blade. Not in the literal sense. It was _more_ than that. A projection, born out of the girl's own needs. The power to project her will upon reality and, if she wanted to, tear it apart.

Ozpin stepped aside before the field could do him any harm. The girl's eyes never left him. Brilliant orbs of purple that seemed to burn with lethal intent.

She never spoke. Maybe she was unwilling. Maybe she was unable.

In mattered little in the end. Ozpin had once shot at this, one chance to salvage this situation before it escalated. Power that most people could only dream off, directed by the shattered remains of a soul. It might well consume him.

It would consume _her_.

Ozpin burned through just about every reserve of energy he had and stepped through hundreds of condensed blades, fields, barriers and shields unhindered. He placed his hand against her forehead. She was burning up.

He smiled warmly at her. It was the least he could do, offer her a reassuring sight before putting her to sleep.

Ancilla collapsed.

The crackling energy around him was gone in an instant.

Greene's words echoed through his mind. _When her mind realizes what we did to her…Salem will no longer be mankind's most immediate threat._

It was too late. Far too late. The damage had already been done. The details were vague, as nobody seemed to know them. The sheer depravity, torment and anguish involved with creating a Catalyst were incomprehensible for the normal, healthy mind.

Ozpin feared that, whatever the reason for the sudden reunion of her disjointed memories was, the girl had accidentally summoned a horde of darkness the likes of which humanity hadn't seen in decades right to their doorstep.

Precisely as Onyx had foreseen.

~0~


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22: the Sacking of Beacon part 1**

 **~0~**

* * *

 **Beacon dormitories**

" _And in other news, Beacon Academy was attacked by an unknown assailant just moments ago. Long thought to be the bastion of Vale, and the pride of our city, the recent attack proved that even the prestigious Academy isn't safe. Officials are unwilling to share more information at this point, but terrorism can't be excluded. Our reporter on-site was prohibited from entering the grounds, but the extensive damage can be seen from a great distance. While the casualties aren't known, we can only hope-"_

Emerald grabbed the remote and shut the television off. "Wow…" she muttered. "You weren't kidding."

"Yeah," Mercury said. "I know. Even with all the enemies they've got, they get fucked by their ally."

Emerald shot an angry look at her partner. "Merc, shut up, would you?"

"Just saying. If they had done the smart thing and shot her the moment they discovered her, they wouldn't be in this mess." He seemed to realize what he said a moment later and shot a concerned glance at Cinder. "Err…I mean…"

Cinder didn't respond. She was still staring at the television screen that hung in their semi-collapsed dorm, even though Emerald had shut it down moments earlier.

"Cinder?" She hesitantly asked.

The raven-haired woman blinked, then put up a mask of confidence and calmness with practiced ease. "Hmm…I would say this about brings our plan to fruition. We are almost there, now."

"Do we…know what happened?"

"Onyx has always been fond of making the same mistakes again and again without ever learning. Give a young woman a reason to hate the world, give her enough power to bring the world to her knees, then lose control over her. It's the same story, every single time."

"Well, it makes our job a lot easier," Mercury said, completely unbothered by what was going on. "So is it time?"

Cinder didn't immediately reply. "Not yet. Not everything is in position. There is… _one_ thing I still need to do."

Emerald looked worried, the way she refused to meet her eyes when she asked, "One thing?"

One thing that served two purposes, actually. She hadn't anticipated the Catalyst would react like this. The emotional feedback would have been enough to kill her carrier. Undoubtedly the last thing she would have wanted.

It was sad, really, that the people here kept the Fall Maiden alive with technology _derived_ from that suffering and insanity. It was truly a way of profiting from people that could only be performed by those in power. If people were to find out…the right people…

"We know where they keep the Fall Maiden. We can get to her. There is just too much going on for it to go unnoticed."

"So?" Said Mercury.

"So…the finals are about to start. You two make sure everything goes according to plan. _I'll_ remove another player from the field."

Their reactions were telling. A testimony to their past, as well as their current personality. Emerald, the thief, worried by the prospect of violence. Mercury, the killer, excited by that same prospect.

"Of course," Emerald said, politely nodding. Respect went a long way, especially in their circle, if it helped mask the fear.

At this very moment, however, Cinder couldn't care less about those values. Even as she left the room and headed towards her final stop at Beacon before setting everything in motion, her thoughts travelled back to the event that had caused all this.

She experienced a brief moment of…nostalgia. Laughing at Matt's antics with Terra and Amber, groaning as he tried to prove to the teacher that he knew better, in front of the entire class…beaming with pride as Amber guided them through yet another mission with supposedly-impossible odds.

The past couldn't be changed. And Onyx had taken all of that away from her. _This_ …all of this…was just one step in getting even with them, with Remnant.

Yet…she supposed that right now, this was less about getting rid of a frustrating opponent and more about granting someone else the revenge they had to be so desperately craving for. It did not take a fool to realize that she and the girl were kindred souls. However, after her breakdown today, the Catalyst would be unresponsive. That, or the slightest provocation would set her off again. Nobody wanted that, not even she. So much destruction, so much raw, uncontrollable power…only Salem would know how to harness it.

However, if the Headmaster had truly gone off into the deep end and placed the girl in an artificial coma himself, Cinder _would_ do all she could to cause another rampage on the girl's behalf. The lines between Beacon and Onyx were growing more blurry with each passing day.

There were plenty of people in the medical bay. People who had stayed behind in the castle, for reasons she cared little for. People who had gotten in the way of the Catalyst when she snapped, stuck underneath rubble or collapsing sections. They could consider themselves lucky; whatever Semblance had torn the school to pieces hadn't targeted them.

But her quarry lay at the far end of the room.

Driven by motivations even she didn't understand, Cinder stepped towards him. She wondered; how much of this was vengeance, against the boisterous "heroes" who failed to be useful when she most needed them? How much of this could be considered a kindness, aimed to help a common soul?

Did it matter?

Cinder knelt down next to the boy. Greystone. Child. Will. Whatever the people close to him liked to call him. He was hooked up to a machine that checked his heart rhythm.

So she _had_ almost killed him.

And despite that all, he was still awake. Still aware. Pretending to be asleep, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

How different things would have gone if she had gotten her hands on one of them, instead of the White Fang.

"You have a right to know," she started, barely raising her voice above a whisper, "that they are taking advantage of her suffering…your suffering. It was General Ironwood…he used Onyx's knowledge to build his own machine. A machine that can transfer someone's soul…without the unimaginable suffering it should entail. If you do not believe me…you can check for yourself. The lowest portion of the school. His soldiers called it the "Vault"."

There was a spike in his heartrate, which steadily picked up from there.

Cinder smiled. "I wish I were lying. Get in there, find out for yourself."

She left the rest unsaid. He would know what to do.

~0~

* * *

 **Beacon campus**

 **40 minutes before the finals**

In a time of crisis such as this one, it was up to the individuals with the most discipline, the most _experience_ , to return the peace. Whether it was calming the panicking civilians, eliminating dangerous individuals or simply providing safety, mattered little. In the end, there were only a select few people qualified enough to keep the peace.

And James Ironwood considered himself one such individual. He had warned Ozpin about the dangers of dealing with Onyx, time and time again, and he had always been ignored. And now Ozpin's actions were going to be the end of them all.

But he would reserve his judgement. The man had already been betrayed by those he considered allies today, and didn't need a friend blaming him for his mistakes. Stupid as they might have been.

No. James would keep the peace, evaluate the damage and then put an end to this obvious threat.

"Damn…" His protégé, Winter, softly muttered. She glanced at the collapsed remains of what had once been an entire section of classrooms and sighed. "Look at that…"

Ironwood placed a hand on her shoulder. "Take it in, Winter. The person responsible for this is at Beacon as we speak."

The Specialist shot him a look. "Sir? Was it them?"

"Yes. In a way."

One of the other soldiers with them whistled softly upon seeing the damage. "Man. When this is over, I'd _really_ like to visit the bastard who did this."

Still, the information was as classified as any a subject could get. Technically, Ironwood wasn't even supposed to reveal that Onyx was involved. But he was still the General of all armed Atlas forces. Who else would protect the populace but him? "You'll get your revenge. When the Tournament is over, we're going after the people who made this happen."

They pressed on, continuing down their route until they reached one of the gardens. It had miraculously survived all the destruction. At least there was one side of Beacon that had survived all the madness…

James still couldn't believe it. How could _one_ person be so destructive? If Onyx had such powerful people in their possession…it was so hard to believe. He doubted Glynda could have done so much damage on her own, even if she had an entire day to do so.

No, it was the damned Adamants that came close to being this destructive. That meddling fool had no idea what he had done; at least the damage that the girl had done to the school could be measured. The damage that the Adamant had done was nearly impossible to measure. There was no saying when, or even if, they found a new candidate…

The General was so lost in his thoughts that he nearly failed to see his two soldiers tensing up, before drawing their weapons.

"Identify yourself!" One of them shouted.

"Put your hands in the air! Do it!" Screamed another.

Their voices snapped the General out of his thoughts and he immediately drew his pistol. He was surprised that they were so aggressive; it could just be a student.

But then he looked more closely. A part of him realized that, no, it couldn't be a student, as the kids without injuries weren't allowed into this section of the school at this point, not until its internal integrity had been verified.

This was something else.

The contact failed to comply. He brazenly approached their group, unfazed by the guns aimed at his direction.

Now James recognized him, too. "Greystone," he growled.

 _Finally._ After all the problems the dog had caused him, he could finally solve that particular problem. And seeing how he was involved with that monster that had ravaged the school…nobody would blame them for neutralizing what was now clearly an open threat.

"When I give the command, my men will shoot to kill," said the General. He was eager to get this over with, eager to finally remove this thorn in his side. "Stand the fuck down or we will put you down like the dog you are!"

James was _thrilled_ to see that the dog didn't comply. He steadily advanced on them, almost suicidally.

That was reason enough for him. "Open fire! Put him down!"

Winter gasped and looked at him, but James barely noticed her. In his mind, he was already setting the war in Vacuo _straight_. There was nothing, absolutely _nothing_ , like a child guided by the weight of a gun. A bullet from a twelve-year-old was just as effective as one from any adult. More effective, often, and his men had found out the hard way.

No mercy this time. No _chances_ this time. He would set it right.

He could hear Schnee yelling at him, but her words were lost to the roars of discharging guns. He too emptied his gun at the hostile.

But they were too close. The two soldiers didn't get out of the way in time and their shots never found their marks.

The men under his command went down in a matter of seconds, just like in Vacuo.

Blood on the sand.

Their bodies hadn't even hit the ground before Winter lunged at the hostile, sword outstretched, ready to end him with a single strike.

She too never found her mark. He sidestepped, did something to her wrist and pinned her down. She fell to her knees, her wrist bend at an unnatural angle. A Glyph appeared behind him-

Winter screamed over the sound of bones breaking. Greystone released the wrist-lock and Winter, in a reflex, grasped her bruised and limp hand, even as her assailant grabbed her by her throat.

"Schnee!" Yelled James. "Move! I don't have a shot!"

Ironwood caught the glimmer of a knife, which the boy held in the air for a full three seconds before he lowered it again. He then slammed his forehead against her face, knocking her out.

"Greystone!" Screamed the General. "Face me, monster!"

 _Fast-_

The single thought shot through the General's mind even as his shot went wide and the boy was on top of him, having launched himself across the several meters that separated them in a heartbeat. A leg collided with his chest with insane force and the General was thrown off his feet. He barely had the time to find his balance again, as Greystone was immediately on him again.

Even with his cybernetic limbs, even with his reinforced implants and years of combat experience, he was unable to keep up. The child soldier struck and struck again, with unmatched speed and frightening ferocity.

There was an animalistic intensity to his blows. After only the third impact, James felt his Aura give away. He could feel one of his metallic ribs shattering under the impact, winding him. He tried to hit back, but the dog redirected his blew and threw him to the ground with such immense force that the ground underneath them shattered.

James gasped as he slammed into the ground, knocking all the air out of his body. His cybernetics had saved his life; the force behind that impact would have sheared his spine in half otherwise.

He couldn't get back up. He could only watch the monster stop at his side, glaring down at him with hatred that rivalled his own.

It was then, and only then, that James realized why Onyx valued the use of child soldiers so much. It wasn't the psychological impact, or the idea that the enemy would hesitate to pull the trigger. Onyx trained them because they were leagues ahead of even Huntsmen and Huntresses in close quarters combat. He had never expected such strength, such _speed_.

Yet he wasn't scared. He wasn't afraid of this _butcher_ who stood above him, pretending to carry himself with an authority he didn't possess. This…merely validated his beliefs. He had been right, all this time.

He was right and they were wrong. And that meant all the difference in the world.

"Come on…" growled James. "Finish it. I know-" a powerful coughing fit seized him, cutting him off. He tasted the coppery taste of blood -something that hadn't happened in years. The bastard had messed his innards up with the very first blow after his Aura broke…"I know you get off on it."

The dog knelt down next to the General, who smiled bitterly.

 _Gotcha._

He wasn't about to die here. He lashed out with his good arm, intent on knocking the son of a bitch off of him, get some room to manoeuvre.

Bastard caught his arm mid-swing. He _wrenched,_ slowly, and James bit back a scream when he felt the bones in his arm break.

"Do you feel that?" Growled the Operative. He increased his grip on James' arm, sending lances of pain shooting through his body. "You don't understand shit. But I'm going to make you _feel_ it."

His voice was trembling with rage. His eyes, a deep shade of purple, were burning with malice.

Ozpin would have to see reason after _this_

"You're nothing," hissed the General. He lashed out with his other arm, hoping to at least cripple the little fuck. He almost nailed Greystone with the force to crush an adult Beowolf, but that blow was caught in mid-air too.

James weakly cursed. How strong was this freak?

The child soldier wrenched at the robotic limb with his free arm, trying to break it as he had the other arm, but he found that the General was made out of sturdier stuff.

A victory was a victory, no matter how short it lasted, or how small it was. Even as Greystone wrapped his leg around Ironwood's right arm and broke it at two places, the General knew that if he were to die, he would do so, knowing that everything he believed to be true was _right._

Greystone stared at the torn clothes, which revealed the metallic skin of his cybernetics. "Your arm is metal?"

It was such a childlike thing to say. James didn't know how to respond to the freak, so he spat in his face. "Get over with it, you sadistic dog. Or do you expect me to _beg_?"

Greystone's response was simple and immediate. He drew his knife and, in one fell gesture, slammed it into James' right flank, again and again, like a goddamn lunatic. He opened a deep, gaping wound in his robotic side, which sent arcs of pain through his midsection.

"Shut up, shut up! You and the rest, all fucking monsters! You're profiting from _her_ suffering, _her_ pain! All of you, liars and sadistic-"

Every word was punctuated by a wild swing at James' bruised midsection and stomach. If the child soldier had been violent before, he was positively savage now.

His self-control was gone. Ironwood honestly didn't know if that was a good thing or not. At this point however, he barely even cared anymore.

"Do it!" James spat. He felt blood coating his lips. "P-proof to them what you r-really are!"

It was as if Greystone didn't even hear him. "You have no idea of the things I can twist inside you. The things I can break! You'll spend the rest of your life in complete and utter agony!" In a quieter voice, he added, "Maybe _then_ you'll understand what they did to her."

He was raving like a madman. James had no idea what he was talking about. What he did know, however, was that the reinforcements had finally arrived. He might just make it.

 _Another victory._

The knife was raised again, as the little killer decided to move on to the more vulnerable parts. It was what James would have done.

But the new arrivals caught on.

"What are you doing?"

"Stop!"

They came rushing towards them, weapons drawn. The Guardian's team. JNPR.

Greystone glanced over his shoulder. "No, go away," he told them. "I won't -this isn't about you."

His voice was still trembling, but not with anger this time. Why didn't he attack? Lunge for _them_ like the madman he was?

The child soldier turned his attention back to Ironwood again. The grip on his knife tightened, but Pyrrha Nikos beat him to the draw. She shot the weapon from his hand, sending it flying away.

Greystone flinched badly at the sudden violence. His jaw tightened, his eyes narrowed and he clenched his fists, one of which was singed by the gunshot.

No Aura?

"I can't find my way home…" he whispered. A dark look crossed his features as he rose to meet the unspoken challenge.

Despite his pain, despite his seething hatred, James felt a stab of concern. Where were the other troops? The reinforcements? Was it just _them?_

Spirits, they'd get torn apart…he had to warn them...!

Unarmed, unhinged and driven to a frenzy. Greystone would even hurt the people who were kind to him, because that was what he was. It was what _all_ of them were.

The General weakly reached for his hip, silently wishing that he hadn't lost the gun in the fight. He had to put the dog down…if he didn't, nobody would…

Gods, the pain…it almost more than he could bear.

His sight grew blurry. In the time it took him to blink the haziness away, Greystone had already clashed with Nikos and the other kids. Nikos leapt at him, shield first, as her teammates covered her with a field of gunfire.

He was so _fast_. It was difficult to follow him. He sidestepped Nikos, kicked her away, ducked underneath a hammer-blow from the other girl and unleashed a series of quick jabs at the dark-haired boy, who was unable to keep up.

The blonde cut in, literally, with his sword, but Greystone simply caught the blade barehanded. He pulled the boy close and headbutted him, sending him sprawling to the ground.

More gunfire. The boy fired away at Greystone from a prone position, forcing the Operative to abandon his attack on the other boy. He leapt out of the way, clashed with Nikos again. He caught a shield-bash to the stomach and barely registered it.

The spear cut across his left forearm and he stepped closer. He struck the shield, then grabbed a hold of its edges and ripped it aside, before slamming the palm of his hand into Nikos' stomach, hard enough to make her double over for a fraction of a second.

All he needed to lower her guard and render her head vulnerable to a lethal blow-

Which he never delivered. He merely pushed her away and turned his attention to her teammate, who came at him screaming, whipping the sword through the air. He didn't shield himself, didn't see how vulnerable he was. He slashed, Greystone dodged, then struck at the blonde's exposed throat-

-only for the shield to suddenly snap in the way, taking the brunt of the attack. The blonde was knocked back several meters by the blow, still in the fight.

Greystone grabbed his hand and wrenched at it, likely to fix whatever he had disjointed when he hit the metal shield dead-centre without Aura to guard him.

How were these kids still alive? They were marginally more vulnerable than James was, yet _he_ had been disabled with a few hits, while these children were still in the fight.

It couldn't be…he was holding _back_? Infuriated, murderous, sadistic and still holding back?

Ironwood groaned and clutched his stomach. The fucker had ripped his cybernetic flank open with his bare hands…if he didn't get this fixed soon, he'd be dead.

When he returned his focus to the fight, things had gone worse. Nikos and the blonde -her partner?- were guarding each other moderately well, but the other two didn't have that ability to protect themselves. The girl with the hammer uttered a loud cry as she struck and struck again. Every single strike was either dodged or narrowly redirected by the child soldier, while the other boy couldn't get close enough.

It all culminated in the girl throwing her entire body into one last attack, which Greystone sidestepped and avoided completely. In the span of a second or two, he struck her across the face, kicked her against the back of her knee, drove his elbow into her stomach and snatched the hammer from her hands while she was left reeling.

Instead of using it, like any sane soldier would, he discarded it. He proceeded to grab a fistful of the girl's uniform and threw her over his hip to the ground, just like he had with James.

When she tried to rise, he slammed his knee into her face, knocking her out.

"Nora!"

It didn't kill her, yet the dark-haired boy reacted as if it had. He charged the Operative, as did Nikos and her partner.

Ironwood felt himself slip away and he had to fight to stay awake. He tried to banish the pain from his mind and _forced_ himself to keep watching the fight, as if he could help them win by simply watching them go all out.

Their attacks didn't take. Greystone was too dangerous in close quarters combat. Somehow, he repelled both shield-wielders, before opening up on the boy. The second hit depleted his Aura, yet the psychopath didn't stop until he had landed at least half a dozen jabs. He finished the boy off by grabbing his head, slamming it against his knee and then casually flicking him to the ground.

The section of wall next to his head exploded outwards in a shower of debris and shrapnel. It almost got him, too, if he had reacted only a fraction of a second later. As it was now, the sudden attack sent him stumbling.

Glynda stopped at James' side, bristling with anger. She waved with her wand and sent a series of massive ice spikes flying his way.

Ironwood closed his eyes for a few moments, trying to steady his breathing. "Don't…" he wheezed.

"James, not now!"

"D-don't…get c-close…"

"I am _well_ aware of that. Now stay put! We will finish this."

 _We?_

James' unspoken question was answered when Qrow Branwen threw himself into the fray, with that oversized sword of his.

The General had never felt this relieved to see Qrow before.

"Calm down kid!" Qrow yelled at the psychopath, as if he could be reasoned with. "We don't want to hurt you!"

Greystone stood still, staring at Qrow with a mixture of confusion and…what was that, fear? Disbelief? "You're Yang's…"

Glynda took that moment to press the attack, shelling the child soldier with a barrage of frozen projectiles. When they failed to kill him, she transformed them into one massive spike and sent it crashing down.

"Glynda!" Qrow yelled with visible frustration. "Don't do that! Stick to the damn agreement!"

His rage enkindled by Glynda's attack, Greystone discarded all caution and went on the offensive again. Unarmed and pressed by two opponents at once, he still managed to keep up with them. He was too fast, too slippery for Glynda to pin down.

The tactician in James marvelled at the boy's capacity for death and destruction. The soldier in him longed to see him perish before he hurt more innocent people.

"We didn't agree on this!" Glynda yelled back.

"Well, we do this my way or no way at all. You want my help? Earn it!"

"You thick-headed -fine. But hurry!"

The General had no idea what the of them were going on about. What agreement? What was going on?

"Come on kid!" Qrow tried again. "Yang's hurt enough as it is! You don't want to keep doing this!"

"You're lying!" Greystone shot back. "Like the rest, liars and monsters!"

"Not speaking for the General or the lady over here, but _I'm_ not lying. And I really don't want to hurt you!"

"You knew about it!"

"Kid-"

"You've known, all this time, and you _watched_!"

"Will!"

Qrow had to be intoxicated. He wasn't attacking, wasn't even _trying_ to hurt his enemy. "It's not like that! We're trying to help- damnit! Just listen to me!"

But neither was Greystone. He was pacing back and forth, trying to find another to attack from, no doubt. "Everybody's an enemy, everybody! Nothing's changed!"

"Do you really want to do this? I'm giving you one shot here, so just think about it."

"I've been doing this for ten years, why stop now?"

Qrow uttered a cry of frustration. "Fine! Lemme show you something then!" With that, he did the dumbest thing he could have done at that moment. He disarmed himself, placed his sword on the ground.

"What are you doing?" James hissed through clenched teeth.

Greystone didn't take his eyes off of Qrow, but he still didn't make any hostile movements. Glynda, meanwhile, had successfully circled around him, outflanking him. If they struck now, they could end this.

"Now, I get that you're upset. But taking the General apart won't do a damn thing. You want payback?" Qrow took a few, slow steps towards him. "Hell, so do we. But we're not the bad guys in this."

"That would be us," growled the child soldier. "You made us, _used_ us. We bled by the thousands to keep your peace!"

Qrow shook his head. "We didn't make you. Onyx, remember? And Ozpin would really like to tell you that we're the good guys here."

"I wouldn't be here if you were. You-"

Glynda made her move. She created several bright flashes, which detonated the ground right in front of her feet. It didn't do any damage, but it didn't need to. It was merely a distraction.

And it worked. The freak's head snapped towards her, and Qrow lunged for him. He wrapped his arm around his neck and pulled him in a chokehold, letting the two of them fall to the ground.

In that instant, the child soldier responded by grabbing Qrow's arm in a death-grip and pulling it away from his throat, threatening to gain enough room to escape.

"Shh…come kid, let it happen," Qrow grunted. His voice didn't betray how much strain was being applied to his body, but his arms were trembling with exertion. "Just give in…"

There was no way it would work. James wanted to shout at Branwen to get the hell away from the little monster, grab his sword and finish it from a safe distance, except he was struggling for each and every breath of air he took. Merely staying conscious was hard enough on its own.

Then, the struggling stopped. For reasons James couldn't fathom, Greystone simply gave in, and Qrow took mere seconds to strangle him into unconsciousness.

Glynda raised her wand and approached the two, finally willing to finish what _they_ had started. She conjured a single icicle into existence, with the point aimed directly at the boy's chest.

Qrow watched her approach, and he didn't let go of the psycho. "Really?" He said, cocking an eyebrow at her.

"You saw what he did. What he could have done. It's a miracle nobody got killed! This was the last straw!"

"What are you waiting for?" James snapped, wincing when the pain in his chest grew worse.

"No such things as miracles, Glynda. The boy did exactly what he wanted to. You wanna know why _that_ bunch-" He gestured at the shaken team JNPR. "-is still intact? Or why he didn't mess me up when he had the chance? It's because he was being better than you're about to be."

Glynda stood there for several long moments, wand raised, glaring at Branwen. After what felt like an eternity, she sighed with exasperation and put her weapon away. "He crossed a line today. We're _through_ being lenient."

"Oh, that what you call it?" Branwen laughed, without any humour. "Well…guess that goes both ways. We're rapidly running out of allies."

~0~

* * *

 **Amity Colosseum**

" _It's finally time!"_

" _I know, I'm excited! The randomization process has already begun. Any bets you want to place, Geoff?"_

This wasn't the first time Blake had seen a mass of people put a tragedy out of their minds in order to enjoy themselves. It was a human thing, to ignore the bad things in order to focus on the good. Beacon Academy was, for all intents and purposes, destroyed. Half the Academy had collapsed, the staff had been relocated and even the wounded were placed in a different wing.

" _Uhh…I'm going to bet on the red one, Jack."_

" _The red one? What red one?"_

" _Never mind. Look, it's spinning!"_

And after what happened to Yang, Blake wasn't even sure she wanted to be here. Not when she didn't even know what was wrong with her partner. For someone like Yang to simply…stop functioning like that…

She didn't know how to feel about that. She felt worried, for sure. Anxious, too. But also scared, and pretty uncertain.

Yang's breakdown had happened at the exact same time Beacon started falling apart. It wasn't difficult to add one plus one.

Blake was certain that, somehow, either Will or Ancilla were involved. Maybe even the both of them. Who else could cause such emotional distress, or cause destruction of such scale?

A part of her resented them for it. She knew that it was unfair, to judge people before she even knew what had really happened, but…Yang's breakdown had been bad. Really bad.

" _Uh-oh! Looks like our first contender is…Pyrrha Nikos, from Beacon! Who do you think she'll be fighting, Jack? Who do you think? Oh no, it's Penny Polendina from Atlas! This is going to be awesome!"_

" _That'll be a perfect way to kick off the finals!"_

Penny and Pyrrha both stepped forwards. While Penny was being her normal self -eager, happy, way too excited to do things- Pyrrha seemed off. Distracted? Upset?

"Go get her Penny!" Ash, sitting next to Blake, yelled. The little child soldier seemed genuinely excited about this match.

"Your team was assigned to guard Beacon," Blake told him. "Shouldn't you be cheering for Pyrrha?"

He gave her a look. "Should I?"

How Ruby always managed to string up conversations with these people, Blake had no idea. She always felt so awkward around them. So uncomfortable. Especially around Ash. She still hadn't come to terms with him being so…him.

" _Fight's about to start. Three! Two! One! Gooooooo!"_

Penny surrounded herself with her floating swords and launched a volley of them at Pyrrha.

Seeing the girl like that, it wasn't hard to imagine why Ash was so fascinated by her. Apart from the fact that they were both…somewhat special, Penny was still a force to be reckoned with, and Ash was still a killer at heart. A killer with the damaged mind of a eleven-year-old at times, but a killer nonetheless.

But Pyrrha was good, too. She rushed forwards, dodging or deflecting each sword that came her way. It was a shame she couldn't get any hits in herself; she was constantly forced to defend herself, never once gaining the advantage to press for an attack.

Blake wasn't sure how Pyrrha was going to win this, but at least Penny looked like she was having a good time. Ash, too. That counted for something.

Initially, Blake thought that Pyrrha would win this, hands down. But as the match raged on, it became clear that Pyrrha wasn't going to pull out an easy victory. Through continues attacks with both her swords as the lasers she had shown back on the docks, Penny managed to put Pyrrha on the defensive. It was only through her Semblance that Pyrrha held her own, and that didn't last very long.

Then, something went wrong. Blake wasn't sure why, but Pyrrha seemed to stagger backwards, uncertain.

What was going on?

Penny launched her swords at Pyrrha, who spread out her arms and unleashed pulse of some sorts, a wave of magnetism that cascaded through the air in the blink of an eye and stopped all swords dead in their tracks.

An instant later, they were sent rocketing past Penny, who seized up, then seemed to come apart as her own wires carved through her.

But there was no blood. Penny didn't _bleed_. At least not in the way actual people did.

Electronic parts littered the ground. Jagged pieces of metal, mixed with the torn fabric of her clothes. Her upper half lay mere feet away from the rest of her body, which had been torn apart by her own wires.

The remains of her missing arm sparked with electricity from the exposed wiring inside.

Pyrrha staggered backwards, covering her mouth with her hands.

"No…" Blake whispered in abject shock. She stared at the girl's ruined frame, her scattered limbs.

It couldn't be real. Penny wasn't dead. She _couldn't_ be.

The low murmur of the crowd slowly escalated as people realized what had just happened. Surprise turned to shock, disbelief gave way to outrage and soon, people started screaming.

Blake was barely coming to terms with the fact that Penny didn't bleed, when the woman started talking.

" _This is not a tragedy. This was not an accident. This is what happens when you hand over your trust, your safety, your children, to men who claim to be our guardians, but are, in reality, nothing more than men…"_

The voice rang through the entire colosseum. For a brief moment, Blake thought she recognized the woman who had, judging by the way nobody seemed to cut the speakers, taken over control of Amity's systems.

Blake was helpless to hear the woman pander to the people's fears and doubts, briefly but expertly tearing down everything that represented stability, peace and order.

" _So I ask you: When the first shots are fired... who do you think you can trust?"_

Ash leapt from his seat faster than Blake could react. He rushed down the seats, expertly weaving past the spectators. The energy field that protected the crowd from stray projectiles failed to stop something moving as slow as a person, and Ash dropped down into the arena.

Nobody moved to stop him

That was when the alarm started. A droning, wailing alarm that sounded throughout the colosseum. The screen representing the contestants' Aura blurred and changed.

The now-orange screen read one word.

CAUTION.

The people that _didn't_ scream and panic soon joined those that did when a mechanical voice announced: " _Alert. Incoming Grimm attack. Threat level: Nine. Please seek shelter in a calm and orderly manner."_

But frightened people didn't think 'calm' and 'orderly'. The crowd began to flee like a herd of terrified sheep, wild and screaming.

That fear, that raw, uncontrollable crowd-panic, escalated further when a trio of Nevermores appeared atop the arena's domed field.

The screeches were deafening, almost unbearable.

It was almost ironic that the first people who took action to defend the helpless crowd, were those often accused of being cruel and uncaring. Apart from Ash, who was focused on Penny and only Penny, every single person ever associated with Onyx jumped to the call. How they had managed to smuggle their weapons inside, Blake didn't know. She was just glad that they had.

They, in turn, were followed by a small handful of students.

" _Warning. Safety Barriers failing-"_

Everything seemed to happen at the same time. Jaune was shouting at Pyrrha, the Onyx soldiers were shouting orders to the few people who were willing to listen, the Nevermores broke through and Ash, completely oblivious to the painful reality, sat next to Penny, softly shaking her torso as if she were merely asleep.

Then, Jaune leapt over the stands into the arena. "Pyrrha, please snap out of it!"

Blake leapt from her seat as well, but she immediately knew that there was no way she could get down there in time.

Three Nevermores, two targets. The third circled overhead as the other two smashed into the arena with enough force to knock everybody in the arena back.

People were shooting the Nevermore, ineffectively. As one lunged for Ash, the other lunged for Pyrrha.

A red, twirling blur of roses appeared out of nowhere, slamming into the Nevermore that was about to crush Pyrrha. It screeched and reared backwards, glaring down at the newcomer.

Ruby, armed with one of Penny's swords, leapt down in front of Pyrrha, shielding her from the massive Grimm. Even through the screeches of the Nevermores, Blake heard her voice breaking as she shouted, "Leave her alone!"

Cal and Lilly rushed down to the arena, but it was too late. Blake couldn't see Ash anywhere. Ruby was fast, but she couldn't be in two places at once.

Blake clenched her fists and whipped out her Scroll. She was starting to see why those associated with Onyx were always so paranoid; who else would have come to the finals of the Tournament, _expecting_ a terrorist attack right underneath Atlas's nose?

Ruby took a step back as the Nevermore screeched again, preparing to lunge. Overhead, its brethren joined in the attack.

The first Nevermore was halted as a volley of rocket lockers crashed into its bulky frame, sending it crashing to the ground underneath the impact.

Blake hadn't been the only one to join the fray. As she moved to retrieve her weapon, she was joined by the rest of team JNPR, CFVY, SSSN and even several members of team ABRN.

There was no time to enjoy the display of courage and solidarity. The Nevermore trembled and rose again, the collective impacts of a dozen rocket-propelled lockers having only winded it.

As Blake moved out of its way, she tried to get a better view of the battlefield. The third Nevermore had taken to the air again, driven off not only by Cal and Lilly, but also by Granit, the bird-Faunus, and what looked like several Onyx soldiers out of uniform. All of them had smuggled their weapons inside.

The second Nevermore was still circling around, occasionally jerking with its massive head.

It didn't end there. Whether they were attracted by the crowd's panic or something else, Blake had no idea. She supposed it didn't matter.

Another creature of Grimm appeared atop the colosseum, soon joined by at least two dozen more.

"Griffons," Ren yelled, alarming the rest of the teams.

Blake tried to get to Ruby, but it wasn't easy, getting around on a battlefield with dozens of Grimm and students fighting each other. She saw her speak to Pyrrha, who shakily got back to her feet. Sun flicked his Scroll to her and soon, Ruby's locker landed in their midst as well.

Even as Ruby armed herself with her scythe, the second Nevermore violently crashed into the stands, tearing through the Colosseum's structure like it was made out of carton.

It lifted its head, which seemed to be missing most of its lower jaw, and weakly pulled with its wing.

Ash dropped down from its head. One of Penny's other swords hung from his hand as well.

Blake felt oddly uncomfortable, seeing that.

That feeling quickly turned to horror as the little child soldier was subsequently swarmed by at least eight Griffons of varying sizes, but there was no time to get to him.

"We can't stay here!" Granit yelled, his booming voice loud enough to be heard over the horde of screeching Grimm. He was the only one in uniform, decorated with long, grey feathers. In his hands he carried a chaingun that could put Coco's to shame. "Push to the exit!"

"No!" Cal snarled at him. "We're not leaving Ash behind!"

"Look at the kid! A dozen Nevermores aren't going to move him, what makes you think you can? We've got people to save!"

Cal ran his eyes across the gathered students, his gaze lingering on Blake for a split-second longer than the rest.

There was no mistaking the accusation in his eyes.

In a tone so soft that only a Faunus could hear it, Cal muttered, 'Fuck you."

But he didn't abandon the students as they rushed towards the exit, and neither did Lilly, or the rest of the Onyx soldiers.

Blake almost wished they had.

~0~

* * *

History had the nasty tendency of repeating itself. Few people knew this as well as Frost. As he watched the Bullheads land at the cliffside's landing pads, he immediately understood that things would never be the same again for Vale. People would die, Beacon would fall, and it would be their own fault. Constantly depending on Onyx to solve all their dirty little problems, yet never once hesitating to act like _they_ had the moral superiority. That _they_ were the true guardians.

The middle Bullhead opened its hatch, revealing four White Fang members, as well as their leader.

Adam Taurus.

"Everywhere I go," Frost muttered. .

Other Bullheads followed its example, except these were packed with Grimm.

"Everywhere I go."

At this point, it was a self-fulfilling prophecy. A vicious cycle. He was there because it was the darkest hour, and it was the darkest hour because he was _there_. History really should curse his name…except it always went unwritten.

Superstitious? Maybe. Things were rapidly going to hell either way.

Frost took a deep breath and reached for his weapon. He knew himself better than this. He would prioritize the White Fang above anything else - _should_ prioritize them above anything else- but he couldn't.

This wasn't his fight. His orders were clear. He was here to clean up. To deny the enemy their asset.

 _Murderer._

~0~

* * *

" _Promise me you won't let them take me."_

" _Don't be silly; of course I won't let them take you. Nobody is going to take you-"_

" _No. I don't want to go back, not ever. So promise me that, when it comes down to it, you won't let them..._ have _me."_

Yang woke with a start. It took her a few moments to realize that she felt like crap. A killer of a headache was splitting her head in half and she felt like she could puke at any moment.

Where the hell was she?

Her heart was beating like crazy as she glanced around the room. It was a run-down wreck of a building. Debris lay everywhere and the floor had collapsed halfway in the centre.

Where _was_ she?

She vaguely remembered what had happened. She'd been talking to Rubes and…then something happened. It was…

Yang shivered and hugged pulled her knees to her chest. Instinctively, she just wanted to curl up and hide. She felt violated, like someone had…

Fuck, had she gone insane?

No. That wasn't right. She couldn't remember it. But she was in the medical bay. She wouldn't be there if she'd lost her mind…right? Why couldn't she remember?

What _did_ she remember? Talking to Ruby, yeah. Blake, Weiss, too. They wouldn't -they wouldn't abandon her. They wouldn't. Not them.

Yang clenched her fists and looked around again. She saw students lying in their beds. Some of them she recognized. She wasn't – she was not like her mother.

She was at Beacon. Still at Beacon.

But why did it feel all wrong?

That was when she heard the screams. Human ones, at first. Shrieks of terror and panic. The inhuman ones came soon after that.

A shiver ran down her back. She knew those sounds. She would recognize them _everywhere._

Grimm. Here at Beacon? How was that possible?

She jumped out of the bed, then stumbled when her knees nearly gave away.

"The fuck?" She muttered. She grabbed the side of the bed and hauled herself upright. She was trembling.

She really wanted to know what had happened to her, and why she was all alone in an abandoned medical wing at Beacon, but she couldn't afford to linger. If there were Grimm around, she needed to get the hell out of dodge. Get her gear and suit up.

Yang made her way down the collapsed section of the medical bay. Apparently, it hadn't been _that_ long, because she still wore her normal clothes. They hadn't undressed her.

For reasons she couldn't understand, that greatly comforted her.

She needed to call…someone. Get assurance that what she was seeing right now was real, and not just some delirious dream, or hallucination.

Where was Will? Or Ancilla?

It wasn't _that_ far to RWBY's dorms. The door was already unlocked, oddly enough.

Her team had taken her weapons and propped them on her bed, as well as her Scroll. Her gear was intact, but her Scroll had a crack in it.

Yang strapped her gauntlets to her arms, attached several bands of shotgun shells to her waist and then grabbed her Scroll.

"Please work," she whispered. "Come on…"

The screen flickered on. A message immediately leapt to the front of the screen.

 _ONE MISSED CALL_

Yang sighed in relief. It worked. Blake had tried to call her. So it was probably Ruby, or Weiss, who had pocketed her phone to drop it on her bed.

Which kind of meant that Blake was on her own. "Come on, answer…Blake?"

" _Yang! Are you okay?"_

She wasn't a hundred percent sure, but this seemed pretty real to her. That was good enough; she slammed the door shut behind her and headed towards the exit. "No... listen, are you alone?"

" _I'm with Weiss."_

Yang closed her eyes for a moment. Ruby was on her own out there. "I…where's Ruby?"

" _Still at Colosseum, I think."_

Yang cursed under her breath.

" _You shouldn't worry. She's our leader, and there are people there."_

Gritting her teeth, Yang said, "Right…so what's-"

" _It's you I'm worrying about. The Grimm are attacking Vale! They're here!"_

Yang heard the noise of roaring engines outside. She glanced through one of the holes in the wall, hoping that it was some good news.

It wasn't. Two Bullhead dropships touched down, a dozen meters apart. One dropped of a group of White Fang troopers, while the other…

"Blake! The White Fang is releasing Grimm into the school!"

" _What? The White Fang is here!?"_

The Grimm -Beowolves- sniffed her out. They came running, snarling and howling, forcing Yang to break the conversation off. "Ugh! Gotta go, stay safe!"

The situation seemed pretty damn nuts too. White Fang dropping Grimm into the school, Beacon in pieces. She was starting to doubt if she really was still sane.

It didn't matter in the end. She didn't need to be sane to show these assholes who was boss around here.

~0~

* * *

Fucking monkey-boy…

A literal storm of feathers and all he and his friend could do was stand there, frozen. Maybe they thought they could take it. Maybe they simply thought they couldn't get away in time.

Whatever the reason, Alice couldn't give a shit. She shot towards them, snatched the massive sword out of the green-haired boy's hand and leapt in the air. As the Nevermores launched their feathers at the two boys, her Semblance kicked in. The razor-sharp feathers that sped towards them like bullets slowed to a crawl.

She carved a blazing trail through the impromptu projectiles with the sword, guided by nothing more than instinct and training. By the time the sensation of diluted time became unbearable enough for her to snap back to real time, the feathers had been carved to harmless little pieces.

The landing was rough and she failed to stick it, however. She rolled over the ground and came to an awkward stop, still clutching the large blade.

"Holy shit!" Sun yelled.

That about summed it up, yeah…

She winced when her heart took its sweet time to go back to normal, then flung the sword back to the big guy. Was it _normal_ for those guys to walk around with their chest bared? "Fucking amateurs…" she gasped.

"Hey, you alright?"

Honest concern. She had no clue how to deal with that, so she defaulted back to what she _did_ know.

She flipped him the bird.

"That's not very polite…" muttered the green-haired dude.

"Well, you know, at least it proves she's alright. Come on! We still got plenty of Grimm left!"

Either he had come to understand her just a bit, or he genuinely wanted to continue the fight. Whatever the reason, Alice was glad that Sun left. She panted with exertion and sat down on one of the ruined benches in the Beacon Courtyard. The lack of sleep caught up faster with her body than the raging adrenaline could eat away and her knees trembled dangerously.

It was just Grimm, she reassured herself. Just the Grimm…

The students fought valiantly. Teams CFVY, ABRN and JNPR were actually succeeding in keeping the Grimm at bay, as well as that dark-skinned asshole with his Faunus girlfriend. Everybody was working together, keeping the front of Beacon secure. The kind of hell that was going on near its rear however, where the evacuations were meant to be taken place, nobody wanted to know.

Alice grimaced when she saw an Alpha Beowolf charge her way. Nobody intercepted it, nobody noticed it. Oh, this was going to hurt…

The ex-Operative jumped to her feet and, with a burst of her Semblance, slowed her perception of time to a crawl. She readied two throwing knives and carefully aligned them with the Grimm that was now moving like it was suspended in water. When the blades were aligned with its eyes, she deactivated her Semblance and threw the knives.

They hit their marks without fail and nailed the massive creature in both of its eyes, penetrating its brain and killing it stone dead. Its body crashed to the ground and came to a stop a few feet away from Alice, who sighed and pulled out the throwing knives again. Her limbs felt dull, her thoughts were crap and the way her senses interpreted the world still didn't make any sense, but at least her chest felt okay this time…it was just the sleep deficiency.

Alice watched Coco Adel gun down a medium-sized Griffon and unsheathed one of her daggers. If she allowed this school to fall, she would never be able to talk to Blake again…

That thought had helped motivate her before, but now…now, it just rang hollow. She wanted this fight to be over with so that she could lie down and sleep. With all these students around her, nobody would even notice.

But she couldn't do that. They weren't going to hold out without her. And Sun would be dead without her help. She had to stay awake…just for another few hours.

That line of thought changed when she glanced at the cliffs and saw something that didn't belong here. Something that should be anywhere but here, where it would lay waste to all the good people who were keeping this place safe.

A massive Griffon charged at the newcomer. He shattered its neck with one well-placed punch and the now-limp Grimm fell over the edge of the cliffs.

"Alan…" Alice whispered, but nobody heard her.

It was Blackwood. How he had found this place, she didn't know. There was a time when he was a symbol of hope; the incorruptible soldier who would never indulge in senseless acts of violence like the rest of them. A force of nature, unbreakable, invincible.

That was before he lost his mind. Now…while he once possessed the soul of a warrior, a poet, he was nothing more than the collective fragments of a man.

But he didn't do anything. He looked at Alice, and she could have _sworn_ that a hint of recognition crossed his features.

He looked rugged. His hair was shaggy and unkempt, as was his facial hair.

He lowered his head, as if ashamed, averted his face and continued making his way across the battlefield, ignoring everything around him as if he had some sort of _goal_ to reach.

Alice was shocked. She wanted to shout at him, stop him from drifting off too far and beg him to come back to them, but she couldn't. Whatever had taken her friend from her might still be present in his mind.

The Grimm didn't notice him, or chose to ignore him further. One of the students however _did_ glance aside and noticed the new combatant on the field. The staff-wielding member of team ABRN narrowed his eyes and assumed a combat position.

"Don't do it…" Alice whispered. "Let it go…walk away…"

"Hey!" the student yelled, gaining the attention of all the other students. "That's him! That's another Operative!"

"You heard Ironwood's orders," the other male from ABRN yelled back. It was that pink-haired guy, with the rifle. "Take him down!"

"No!" Alice shouted, raising her hand to alert the students of the suicidal stupidity of that idea. But her voice was weak, and they didn't hear her. She helplessly watched as the staff-wielding student dashed towards Alan. He was a flash of yellow, moving rapidly past the various Grimm forms and the combating students.

Alan heard him. He must have; his senses had always been incredible for a human.

But he just let the boy strike him. The staff impacted on his head, slamming it aside and the force of the blow sent him reeling.

The boy whirled his staff behind his back in a flashy and completely pointless display and proceeded to attack again.

Just before the student could hurt him again, Alan struck. As always, his strikes were like snakes striking their prey with impossible speeds. He hit the student in his chest with an open-palm strike and followed up with two jabs aimed at his chest.

Alice grimaced and broke into a sprint towards the man who once been one of her best friends. The student fell to the ground without a word.

Dead before he hit the ground.

"Bolin!" The other student cried, not even aware that his friend would never listen to him again. "Bolin, watch out!"

Blackwood slowly lowered his arm, clenched his fists and turned away from the corpse. He could have simply walked away without any more bloodshed. This could have stopped right there, with only one casualty.

Had the pink-haired student kept his cool, it could have stopped.

But he had not, and it would not.

The dark-skinned boy opened fire with his rifle and scored two direct hits. One on Alan's chest, one on his left forearm, which he used to shield his face.

Alice cried out in frustration and tapped into her Semblance once more, which marked her as the only person who fully witnessed what happened next. Blackwood had always been ludicrously fast, even when watched through her diluted perception of time. He closed the distance between himself and his assailant in the time it took Alice's heart to painfully contract and relax and easily weaved underneath the student's follow-up blow.

Then, Alan rammed his elbow against the student's side, whirled around his back and caught his neck with his other arm. He pulled the student against his hip and sharply jerked his arm up at the same time, audibly breaking his neck.

Alice watched the pink-haired boy fall to the ground in slow-motion and realized that this act of emotional desperation might have doomed them all. The only sensible action to take would be a tactical retreat; let Alan work off his rage at the -in his eyes- unfair provocation and see if she could put her talents to use in a location with less rampant stupidity.

But she could not. However naïve, however stupid they were, these kids had a full life ahead of themselves, while she didn't. She wanted to keep them that way.

Alice collided with her old friend and kicked him in his head, sending him staggering backwards. The other students then fell onto him and Alice was forced to spent the fight keeping people out of harm's way instead of actually fighting.

The skater-girl rammed her hoverboard against Alan and only succeeded in distracting him from the other remaining member of team ARBN. Alan easily deflected her strike with one arm. Alice, still perceiving time differently than the others, grabbed the green-haired chick by the back of her hoodie and yanked her backwards, out of the range of Blackwood's lethal counter-attack.

Time returned to normal and the skater tumbled backwards several meters, while the girl with the yellow robe and black pants attempted to engage Alan in hand-to-hand combat.

 _Fucking-_

Alice gritted her teeth and narrowly dodged one of Alan's elbow-strikes, after which she immediately channeled her Semblance and slowed down the world just enough for her to kick the dark-skinned girl out of harm's way. She had a brief opening and took it, nailing Alan in the back of his left knee with three consecutive slashes of her dagger.

Emotions. She fucking hated them. The kids had revenge on their minds, failed to see the Grimm creep up on them.

Blackwood didn't. _Alan_ didn't. He stopped going on the offensive against the students, instead opting to merely guard himself as he dispatched of the Grimm that came too close.

It grated Alice to see how different he was compared to what he had been in the North. He was holding back. Why was he holding back?

They were coming too close to the walls of Beacon right now. The Grimm were starting to build up in strength, slowly forcing the tightly-packed student away from each other. It soon became too difficult to keep tabs on all of the students. Alice wrote those she couldn't see anymore, off as dead

At one point, she was left only with the dark-skinned ass with the oversized trumpet and the hyperactive Faunus girl, both of whom seemed overconfident to the point it bordered on the extreme. Most of the Grimm around them were being taken out by friendlies, leaving them to "take care" of Alan, who deemed the Grimm more important than the students.

"Stop it!" Alice snapped when the boy brought his trumpet to his mouth, aiming it at Alan. "He doesn't want to fight!"

He ignored her. She stood too close for him not to hear her, so he ignored her.

Even with his mind in ruins, Alan sensed the attack a fraction of a second before it hit him. The shockwaves from the weaponized instrument sent him crashing through the castle's wall, which proceeded to collapse in on him.

The impact produced a massive cloud of dust, obscuring the fallen warrior from view.

The guy huffed and lowered his instrument again. "Check that out, Neon. Doesn't look so scary to me."

The cat-girl stopped and grinned at Alan's apparent death. "Overhyped!"

A sharp-edged piece of metal was flung out of the cloud of dust, impaling the boy through his chest with a sickening crunch.

The blood went everywhere.

The student fell to the ground, an expression of pure shock still frozen on his face.

The resulting scream of grief and rage brought back bad memories. "Flynt! FLYNT!"

Alan emerged from the wreckage, unhurt. His expression was solemn, almost weary, as he watched the girl lunge for him, seeking to gain vengeance for her fallen teammate.

She got in four hits. He let her. With his Semblance actively protecting him, it amounted to nothing. Enraged by the loss of her friend -her partner, perhaps- she failed to miss the Beowolves sneaking up on her.

Alan gasped and extended a hand towards her when they pounced her, but there was nothing he could do. By the time he got to her, the beasts had ripped her throat open with her oversized fangs.

It should have meant something that the insane, disturbed Alan showed more emotion at their deaths than Alice did. She _knew_ that it should have meant something that she had seen this happen so many times that she couldn't muster the passion to get worked up over it.

But she was just too tired to care.

~0~

* * *

 **City of Vale**

Qrow didn't give his opponent any quarter. The Beowolf lunged at him and he bisected it with a swing of his sword.

Those damn tin soldiers weren't very good at their job; they simply stood there, occasionally firing their guns, only to be picked off by faster and tougher Grimm.

And those heaps of scrap were meant to replace Huntsmen and Huntresses? He wasn't nearly drunk enough to think that was a good plan.

Glynda sent a pair of wolves flying into buildings, other Grimm and the occasional piece or rebar or metal that jutted out of the buildings. That didn't mean jack when every monster was immediately replaced by two more.

"Got any friends?" Qrow yelled at Yale, who was firing his sidearm one-handed at an approaching Ursa. For a man who was only back on the front-lines for a few weeks, the ex-Onyx commander held his own rather well.

"Only a few," replied Yale. "They're heading straight for Beacon. They'll help evacuate the students."

"The Grimm won't give a rat's ass about "a few"," Qrow shot back. He blasted a rampaging Death Stalker in the face and added, "Unless your guys specialize in funeral services, of course."

"Qrow!" Snapped Glynda.

"Got different friends for funeral services." Yale ducked low and blew away a pair of Beowolves. "It's all I have."

Qrow groaned. "Guess it's better than nothing…"

Overhead, an Atlesian warship got rammed by no less than three Nevermores, which started tearing the ship apart.

That was when Jimmie's robots started acting weird. Real weird.

~0~

* * *

Several Atlesian Knights marched by, brandishing shining directed-energy rifles that failed to properly kill their targets in one good hit. The Grimm, in turn, didn't have that problem. Whenever they got their claws on one of the robots, they tore them apart without too much trouble.

Cal aimed down his sights, waited until the Ursa was done chewing through the Knight's head, then blew its head off with a burst of fire. He wasn't sure what he hated more at this moment; that creatures of Grimm were running amok in the fairgrounds, or that Atlas was still thinking they could replace soldiers with automatous tin men.

Why was it that no superpower could figure out how to do the proper way? Here they were, dealing with the biggest Grimm infestation Vale had seen in years, and what did the men and women in charge send out to deal with them?

Child soldiers and robots.

It was a disaster waiting to happen. Still, Cal wasn't about to let his friends down. Ruby was willing to give them a chance, so there was no way he'd disappoint her now. Of all the things going on right now, that was by far the simplest.

"On our six," said Lilly. She was finally back in her element. At the moment, that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. "Three Ursai, moving in."

Cal whirled around and fired off several three-round bursts to keep the Grimm down. "Enemy fast-movers, ten o 'clock."

Both of them leapt out of the way as a pair of Nevermores swept over them, showering the area with man-sized feathers that sliced through concrete like it was nothing.

A Beowolf dropped down above, but Cal's fox ears picked up it up right as it was about to hit him. He sidestepped the beast and decapitated it with a swing of his combat hatchet. "Stay alert, that thing came out of nowhere-"

An energy blast streaked past his head and he instinctively ducked. When he whirled around to see which moron couldn't distinguish between Onyx soldiers and giant fucking monsters, he realized that would have to fight Atlas as well as the Grimm.

Again.

The Atlesian Knights. Their visors had turned a dark crimson and now they were prioritizing the two lone soldiers above the creatures of Grimm.

Lilly saw them too. "Knights turning hostile!"

This was Ironwood's work. _Damn_ him! Where on Remnant did he pull _that_ decision from? Transitioning from trying to get students to attack them, all the way to actively trying to kill them?

So much for trust.

~0~

* * *

Weiss watched the Atlesian dropship crash into the courtyard. An armoured Beowolf crawled out of it, glanced at her and Blake, then took off running to chase more interesting prey.

A pair of terrified civilians, in this case.

Few things could prepare you for something like this. People were screaming, a hundred weapons were being fired at unseen terrors and monsters were creeping, as far as the eye could see. The Atlesian robots had turned against their masters, turned against the very people they were built to protect.

People were dying all around her. She could hear them. She could _see_ them. And amidst the chaos, the massacre, a single figure stood leaning against the ruined wreckage of an Atlesian Paladin.

Blake followed Weiss' gaze. "Frost…"

Frost was staring at Weiss. He gestured at the main building of Beacon's structure with his head.

Weiss turned to look at her Blake, who looked plain sorrowful. "Blake…"

"It's alright," she softly replied. "You should go."

Weiss took a step towards her estranged family member, but quickly changed her mind. She rushed back towards Blake and hugged her. "Be safe."

Blake nodded. When Weiss let go of her, the girl headed straight towards the dining hall. No hesitation, no fear.

She knew better than to let her emotions get the better of her.

Weiss gripped Myrtenaster tighter and approached Frost, vowing to follow Blake's example.. "What do we do?" She asked, struggling to keep her voice level. He wouldn't understand -or appreciate it- if she couldn't keep her composure.

"There is someone we _must_ get out of here safely," Frost told her. "I need you for this."

Weiss nodded firmly. "Lead the way."

Frost didn't say anything. He didn't need to. She followed him towards Beacon's tower, fighting off creatures of Grimm all the while. She tried to ignore it when a tremor shook the entire school in its foundations, even though she knew what was about to happen. What kind of horrors the Grimm were about to unleash.

Frost pressed on without showing any sign of his Semblance. He gunned down every creature of Grimm that attacked him with machinelike precision. The constant rattling of his rifle helped Weiss stay focused and sharp. She guarded the two of them against attacks from behind as well as attacks from the sky, until they finally reached their destination.

Beacon tower.

"Why here?" Weiss asked, unable to contain her surprise.

"Asset denial. The _real_ people behind this attack are after something of unmeasurable value. -We can't let them take it. "

"The real people? Who-?"

"No time. Come on."

Frost took her to the elevator, strangely enough. At several points, Weiss felt like someone was watching her, but she was unable to find anyone. Even as they stepped inside the elevator and headed down, Weiss couldn't shake the feeling like something was wrong.

"The thing we're looking for…it's under the school?"

Frost didn't reply. His face was like a mask.

 _You chose this,_ Weiss told herself. _You trust him. Don't question him._

He wouldn't be lying to her. Not after the things he had told her today. It made too much sense for him to make it all up.

Silently, the two of them waited until the elevator reached its destination. Weiss's heart was pounding and the sickly feeling in her stomach was hard to mistake. She was frightened. Terrified, even. Would her friends be alright? Would Ruby be alright?

When the doors opened, Frost shot forwards, sweeping his rifle from the left side of the cavernous room to the right. "Clear."

Weiss didn't even bother to hide her surprise. "Wow…what is this place?"

"Proof," Frost replied.

"Of what?"

"That even those claiming to be opposed to Onyx, are playing in their hands."

He led her all the way down the corridor, towards some sort of machine. A contraption of plastic and glass and…

"Is that…a Catalyst?" Weiss asked when she saw the comatose girl kept safely inside the machine.

Frost snorted. "No. Weiss…meet Amber. An unfortunate pawn in a war that has been raging for centuries."

Words failed to describe just how relieved Weiss felt at that. If Beacon had been keeping their own Catalyst imprisoned down here…she might have lost all hope in the world then and there.

"So...how do we get her out?" Weiss asked.

"Turn around," Frost whispered at her.

"Why?"

"Just do it."

Every fiber of her being told her that something was wrong. Her instinct was _screaming_ at her to remain where she was. But her instinct had been wrong before.

"If you want to know why Will, Alice even Alan…all Onyx's Operatives...why theyare what they are…it is because of this girl."

"Who is she?" Weiss whispered.

Her gut was screaming at her; _Turn around!_

"Someone very powerful, and very vulnerable. Onyx trained soldiers specifically to protect them. The three Operatives you know, were meant to guard them in the future. They're _drawn_ to these girls, Weiss. Conditioned to search them out, consciously or not."

"So we can't let the enemy take them?"

"Never."

"Then…what do we do?"

She heard him sigh. "Whatever it takes."

 _Turn around_.

She heard the faint click of metal touching metal and she whirled around, just in time to catch Frost aiming a gun at the helpless girl. "What? No, stop!"

Weiss lunged for the gun, but Frost held her off with one arm. "You want to understand the world? Lesson number one. Sacrifices."

"Frost! Not like this! We don't need to!"

He didn't bother look at her. He didn't shoot, either. "Do you know what will happen when _she_ gets her hands on them? All four of them?"

"I presume something bad," someone else said. Both Schnees spun around and took aim at whoever had managed to sneak up on them, but Weiss swiftly lowered her weapon when she recognized them. "Professor Adamant? Headmaster?"

Ozpin and Adamant stood several meters away from them, looking no worse for the wear, despite the ongoing battles.

"Finally decided to show up?" Frost rasped. He cleared his throat and added, "The king on his throne?"

Ozpin glared at him for several moments, before his features softened. "You are right, Frost. And we cannot let the enemy take the Fall Maiden," Ozpin spoke calmly, as if he didn't even consider Frost pointing a gun at him to be a threat. "But, you misunderstand the meaning of a sacrifice."

"I… _really_ doubt that, Ozpin."

Professor Adamant took a step forwards and Frost's rifle snapped towards him. "In my dictionary, a sacrifice has always meant you giving up something important for someone you consider even more important. What, exactly, are _you_ sacrificing this way?"

"Is that what the Adamants stand for these days? Making dramatic points about the importance of compassion, before committing murder on a whim?"

Unconcerned, the Adamant wandered towards them. "Something like that. Now I'm sure, it wouldn't mean a thing to you. _But_ …if _I_ were to make this sacrifice…it would be more meaningful, no?"

"Professor!" Weiss said. _Demanded_. "You wouldn't. You _can't!"_

He smiled at her. "Come Weiss. I know you you're smarter than this. That's not what we stand for. No matter what happens."

"Matthew," Ozpin said. "We don't have much _time_."

"Ah, yes, right. Weiss? Frost? Would you kindly step aside?"

Weiss still hesitated. "What will you do?"

The Professor smiled, but the smile didn't really reach his eyes. "Something the good Headmaster should have let me do a long time ago. Now, please, would you _step aside?"_

"They won't leave without her," Frost said, lowering his weapon. "She won't be safe."

"Not on her own, no," Ozpin agreed. "Not without someone keeping her safe."

He looked at Weiss, who felt a shiver run down her spine.

With that, the two of them stepped aside. It was purely symbolic; Weiss held no illusions that she could have stopped Ozpin or Matt Adamant, even with Frost's help. He had to realize that, too. No matter what people called him, there were some opponents even he wouldn't want to fight with.

The Headmaster typed in a string of code on the holographic display. "If you are sure, Matthew?"

"You know how we roll, Ozpin. I'm _never_ sure!"

The pod opened and the girl inside stirred, as if sensing that something was happening to her.

Professor Adamant carried her out of the pod, gently and carefully. _Too_ gently and carefully. Weiss didn't consider herself a people-person, but she definitely saw that there was something going on between those two. They knew each other?

Beacon's resemblance to Onyx just kept growing, and she hated that.

"Oh, they should have never let this happen to you," Matt told the girl -Amber- as he held her in his arms. "And I'm sorry. Just let me be the idiot again, alright?"

He sounded weary. _Old_.

Professor Adamant closed his eyes. His Aura flared to live around him, enveloping both him as Amber. A pleasant, green glow.

"Semblance. The Adamant family line has always been about manipulation," Frost muttered. "What does his sister do?"

Lisa's Semblance…"I believe she manipulates objects. Walls, or ice…inanimate things."

"Matter manipulation. And Matt Adamant won the lottery."

"Dynakinesis," the Adamant said, having apparently heard them talk. "I can manipulate energy." He smiled. "I'm burning through half my life's energy to keep her alive. Worth every moment."

"Not to a crippling degree, of course," Ozpin added. He glanced at Weiss. "Since Frost is sharing secrets, there is little use remaining secretive now, is there? Amber _must_ leave this place, as soon as possible. The enemy _cannot_ get their hands on her."

Weiss thought she believed what the Headmaster meant. Maybe it was meant to be, or maybe it was simply happenstance, but now she had something she could definitely do. Something worthwhile. "I understand."

She looked at Frost, who was frowning. "Frost-?"

"Down!" He yelled, before pushing her out of the way. An arrow pierced his left arm, but he didn't even seem to notice it.

Weiss gasped and looked down the corridor, where a woman with black hair and a red dress stood, her bow still in her hands.

 _They won't leave without her._

So this was the person behind this attack? The one responsible for this …this massacre?

Completely unbothered by the arrow sticking from his lower arm, Frost opened fire the very second he caught her in his sights, but she seemed to block his bullets with her bare hands.

How powerful was this woman?

Weiss raised her rapier and prepared to lunge, but Ozpin snapped, "Stay back!"

"I can take her," Frost called. "My Semblance can stop her."

"Not today. Weiss, Frost, take Amber. Get her out of here! Find Glynda, Qrow, Yale! Bring them here right away!"

"C-Cinder…"Whispered Amber.

"I know," replied Professor Adamant. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Weiss felt her pulse quicken. She wasn't about to fail now. After all this time, searching for a purpose that was greater than what her father had reduced the Company to, she had finally found her call. "We'll get her out of here, sir," she told the Headmaster. Sounding a great deal more confident than she actually felt.

"She was right about you," the woman said. Her eyes were practically burning with anger. With _accusation._ "You are all hypocrites."

"Now!" Frost yelled, opening fire again.

With a mere gesture, the enemy unleashed a barrage of fireballs that plummeted towards them with startling speed. It grew notably hotter in the room.

Ozpin gestured with his cane and Matt leapt upright. "Don't look back!" Yelled the teacher. "Take Amber. Keep her safe!"

Weiss sheathed Myrtenaster and pulled Amber against her side, wrapping the young woman's left arm around her shoulders.

No sooner had she taken the woman from the Adamant's hands, or he leapt to Frost's aid.

The woman went straight after _her_ instead. Weiss pulled Myrtenaster out again and summoned a series of Glyphs, forming an erratic path to the exit. It was all she could do to throw off the woman's aim and get to the exit as fast as she could without getting burnt to a crisp, as the woman was practically showering her with projectiles of all sorts, most of them torrents of fire.

That was when Frost and Adamant got in positon. Weiss couldn't see what Frost was doing, but whatever it was, it completely stopped the enemy from targeting her. She made it to the elevator unopposed. "Frost!" She yelled, creating a crisscrossing series of ice in an attempt to slow the woman down. "Your turn!"

Frost caught a bolt of fire to his left side and the heat singed his uniform, but it didn't stop him. Even as his sleeve burned away, revealing a completely cybernetic arm, he continued pressing towards the elevator, running and shooting.

Ozpin and Matt had the woman's attention now, and the last thing Weiss saw before Frost skidded to a halt inside the elevator and closed the doors, was a literal sea of fire, engulfing everything in its path.

~0~

* * *

She should have taken her weapon with her. She should have armed herself, readied herself for something like this.

But she hadn't, and she was going to die because of it.

May Zedong was running for her life, with several Beowolves right behind her. Her heart was pounding in her throat, her side stung and ached and her legs were burning, but she couldn't stop, couldn't even slow down, because they would rip her apart if they did.

There was no help. There would be no help. She wasn't the only one being hunted down by a pack of monsters. She had lost track of her team in this madness, and evacuation was a mile away.

She wasn't going to last for a mile. The wolves were basically nipping at her heels now.

Vivid images of what they would do to her if they caught her shot through her mind. Images of blood and severed limbs and entrails…

She couldn't help it. Even if they only made her feel that much more helpless, that much more panicked, she couldn't keep the thoughts out of her head. Her Aura was gone -there was nothing to keep her safe now.

One of the Beowolves pounced her, ramming into her from behind.

It would have been less disastrous if a car had hit her. She crashed to the ground in a tangled mess of limbs, kicking and screaming in a desperate attempt to get the monster off of her.

It was useless. The creature was so _strong_. Much stronger than she was. It ignored her attempts to get it off of her, taking a sadistic _joy_ in slowly pushing her to the ground, pinning her down. When she took a swing at its face, it caught her arm between its jaws.

It bit down and May could feel her arm breaking. She screamed and thrashed, crying incoherently as her blood poured to the ground. A second Beowolf was on her in a heartbeat, ripping at her lower leg, shredding her clothes and flesh. Her boot connected with its face once, twice, before it caught her leg in its gaping maw.

Its razor-sharp teeth tore through her flesh in a second. Then, with agonizing slowness, the beast clenched down until her bone splintered.

The pain was unimaginable. She wished that the monsters would finish her off already. Kill her, eat her, everything they wanted if it meant she would just die. Tears welled up in her eyes at the mere thought, blurring out her vision. It saved her the pain of having to _watch_ as they ripped her apart.

 _I don't want to die. Please, someone…I don't want to die…_

The howling came out of nowhere. If May didn't know better, she'd almost think it sounded threatened.

The wolves that had pinned her down started growling. Something impacted on the ground, very close to her. The howling of the wolves turned to pained yelping.

The crushing pressure on her limbs disappeared completely.

May blinked weakly. What was going on? Why hadn't they killed her yet?

Something large and white appeared in front of her. A blur of motion, the flash of steel, then the blackness of the Grimm was gone.

She felt disoriented, confused. She dragged her sleeve across her face, wiping away the blood and tears.

A white figure knelt down in front of her. Someone touched the side of her head with a gloved hand. Rough. Cold.

She didn't care; it was the best feeling she'd ever had. They'd found her. _Saved_ her.

"W-who…" she muttered,.

"Don't try to talk," a voice told her. Male, slightly muffled.

May tried to get a better look at her savior. He was tall, clad in white armour. Atlas? No, the helmet covered his entire face. He even had a golden visor in place of his eyes, hiding his identity.

She didn't know anyone like that.

Gods, the pain was killing her…

May tried again, this time more successfully. "Who…are you?"

The soldier surveyed her leg and arm for a few moments. "A friend," he eventually said. He pressed is hand against the side of her face again, holding something bright and soft.

Her beanie.

"I'm going to lift you now."

May nodded, then closed her eyes, trying to brace herself against the inevitable pain that soon followed. The full extent of her wounds hit her like a truck; the slightest brush of air against her arm or leg, the simplest movement, sent lances of pain shooting through her entire body. It was agonizing.

He obviously did his best to keep from hurting her, but her limbs were so badly mangled that it was impossible _not_ to hurt her. She tried to bite back the cries of pain as the soldier cradled her in his arms, unsuccessfully.

"This is Angel One-" said the soldier,

"W-what?"

"I secured a civilian. Moving to the evacuation point."

 _Oh._

Whoever he was talking to, May didn't hear them.

"Hold on tight," the soldier -Angel One- told her. He held a pistol in his right hand, even as he supported her legs.

Already, the Grimm were turning their attention towards them. Pain, despair, hope. The monsters were attracted to those emotions like moths to a fire.

There was no way he could carry her to safety without getting mauled to death. On his own? Maybe. But going up against a dozen creatures of Grimm, while carrying and protecting her?

"We won't make it," she quietly told him. "You should…you…"

She couldn't say it. She wanted to tell him to leave her behind, but she couldn't. She just wanted to be safe.

Did that make her a bad person?

Angel -May refused to attach a number to her savior's name- lifted his gun. "We'll make it."

"How?"

The attack came too soon, too sudden. A Beowolf leapt at them from the rooftop, too fast for him to dodge-

A bullet tore through the creature's skull, blowing it open. A split-second later -almost simultaneously, really- the crack of a distant gunshot echoed through the city.

 _Sniper support_ , May thought, feeling somewhat awed at the idea. Normally, that was her role for the team. She had pulled them through some rough times with her covering fire, but something like this? A moving target, a perfect headshot out of nowhere?

She felt that much saver, knowing that her life was in the right hands.

"Close your eyes," Angel told her. "It's easier that way."

She did as he asked. Soon, her ears were bombarded by the noise of roaring Grimm, discharging pistols and through it all, the steady _crack_ , _crack, crack_ of the distant sniper covering them.

Not one creature of Grimm ever touched her.

~0~

* * *

 **Beacon Academy**

 **Vault**

Matthew Adamant woke with a start. He shot upright, felt six-hundred and four muscles spread across his body flare in protest and immediately slumped back to the ground again.

"Ah…screw me sideways…"

Transferring half his life's energy in a sentimental gesture before fighting what was probably the most dangerous opponent he had ever faced wasn't his best idea yet.

"Stick around…" Matt groaned. "I'm… _full_ of bad ideas…"

Despite his aching limbs, he forced himself to sit upright and take a breather. "Lemme see…legs…good, still got legs. Cinder…nowhere to be seen. Kay. Not as good. Oz'?"

No answer.

He couldn't sense the Headmaster. That didn't necessarily have to mean anything. "Ozpin? Stay silent if you think I'm more clever than you?"

Again, nobody answered.

The Headmaster was gone.

Matt sighed and closed his eyes. "Alright…that's not good. That's…very _not_ good." This was his fault. His burden. He had failed his team, failed _her_. But she was _his_ responsibility now. And without Ozpin to beat her…the next most-powerful individual in Vale was him.

Not for long. It would all be over soon, for both of them. He could _feel_ the tower trembling. Something was going on out there, something really bad.

Of course, it was hard to ignore the wild, barely-controlled swerves of energy that were appearing and disappearing at the top of the tower.

 _Oh, Cinder_ …

Matt slowly crawled back to his feet, probing the Atlesian machine for any trickles of trace energy.

There was barely anything left. Cinder had wrecked this place.

But Amber got out. She'd live, and that counted for something, didn't it? He had almost lost her a second time today. No, this once, others would live.

If everything worked out, she'd be the last remaining member of team AMTC. And once she fully assumed the role of the Fall Maiden…his past team would be nothing but a memory.

The way it should be.

"Come on…" he whispered, retrieving his weapon. His Aura device. Screwdriver, hammer, whatever silly name he came up with, it would still be a weapon.

They'd always called him a hypocrite. For good reason.

What'd Terra call it again, whenever they faced suicidal odds again? The last hurrah?

That was right. One last hurrah.

Cinder was waiting for him at the top of Ozpin's tower. Whatever massive form of Grimm she had unleashed was now crawling its way to the top of the tower, too. Matt _felt_ it as he ascended to Ozpin's tower. The air was crackling with power, a latent energy indicative of the destructive powers that were about to be released.

Matt leant against the side of the elevator and pulled his Aura weapon from the control board. As the small, cylindrical device released the control panel, the doors sprang open and the whole structure came to a stop.

She'd always been beautiful. Alluring, tempting in a way even Amber hadn't been. She could have wrapped any man or woman around her finger with her charisma.

And _he_ had always been too arrogant to consider that a threat to himself.

"Hello Matt," she said, smirking.

"Hello Cinder," the Adamant quietly replied. Telling himself that this wasn't the Cinder he knew -that his friend was long gone- was useless. Just like before, just like in Atlas, he needed to _know_ what it was he was about to do. It would be meaningless otherwise. He needed the ramifications.

"Isn't it beautiful?" She said, gesturing to the enormous monstrosity that clung to the side of the tower, Its horrendous eyes, devoid of any life, stared at the two of them through the glass.

"Why did you do it?" The Adamant reached for his bowtie. Almost subconsciously, at this point. "Why here, of all places?"

Her smile faded. "Why? Are you truly asking me _why_?"

"Oh, I know why. And I don't blame you."

Her eyes narrowed. "Then why ask?"

"Because three-hundred innocent people had to die, Cin', and -"

She bristled. "Don't. Call me. That."

"-and I had to do it myself, to spare the rest," he continued without regard for her emotional state. "You forced me to trade hundreds of lives for thousands. I broke the Adamant code that day."

"Punishment. For abandoning me."

"I told you, I don't blame you for blaming me. But innocent people?"

"There are no innocent people!" She snapped. Fire washed off of her right arm as she gestured wildly at Ozpin's table, reducing it to ash.

"These children at Beacon, are they to blame for what happened to you?" Matt demanded, raising his voice as well. His stomach tightened. It wouldn't be long now. "Are the hundreds of people you'll have killed by the end of this day to blame?"

The tattoos that Onyx had grafted onto her body flared. "Everybody turns into a monster given enough time. These ones are no different. They just haven't had the right _push_ yet."

"With that logic, _everybody_ is an enemy," Matt replied. There wasn't anything to say. Nothing that he said could change her mind. After solving so many problems with simply talking it to death…he didn't know the right thing to say.

Cinder smiled. Matt knew that smile; it was the same one she had always wore when she was about to lay waste to her enemy. "So you _do_ understand?"

They attacked at the exact same time. The Adamant moved his weapon, projecting his Aura into a razor-thin blade that could cut through a Nevermore with a single swat.

She knew that it couldn't be dodged, so she didn't bother. She blocked the strike with her left arm while sweeping her right hand through the air, launching a torrent of fire his way.

Matt switched gears. The thin lance of Aura became a shield, propelled outwards towards the woman. It diverted the flames around him, harmlessly, while pinning Cinder against the wall.

The fire in her eyes intensified and she pushed back against the Aura-shield, gaining enough room to free her other arm. She gestured and summoned a storm of obsidian shards inside of the protective shield, which she then flicked towards him.

The Adamant was forced to abandon his attack once again. He blocked the improvised projectiles, but doing so gave Cinder the perfect chance to attack. Once again she sent a streak of fire his way, attacking him from all directions.

She was just as fast as he was, and she knew everything about his fighting-style. For several long moments, they engaged one another in a deadly game of striking and blocking, using every opening the other had to get their attacks in. Matt alternated between lashing out with his projected Aura and guarding himself with it at least seven times in the span of three seconds, before Cinder switched gears. She propelled herself towards him with flames jetting from her hands.

She was fast. Almost too fast. He barely had the time to analyze her movements and decipher her intention before she slammed into his waist, throwing him across the room and causing severe damage to his Aura.

Matt gasped and reached for his stomach. He had always been weak in close quarters combat. His knowledge of martial arts was mediocre enough to beat back the average criminal, Huntsmen and Huntresses, not superpowered demi-goddesses out for his blood.

The realization that she really was trying to kill him hurt him more than any struck blow ever could. Without his Aura, that hit would have torn him in half.

But he hadn't been sitting still since he'd been disowned. Cinder advanced on him again, conjuring a flame in her right hand. He lashed out at her with his weapon, forcing her to block his attack again. He then leapt forwards and struck her with three rapid, consecutive punches, using his Semblance to greatly increase the kinetic energy of his blows, throwing her across the floor.

If she was willing to go all out, he'd match her blow for blow and surpass her.

She grunted and pushed herself off the floor, performing a back-handspring to get back to her feet. She conjured up a storm of fire and blasted him from all directions, foregoing clever attack patterns for sheer brute force.

Matt Adamant could do brute force. Guided by his Semblance, he tapped into the heat energy of her searing flames and _pushed_ , redirecting it out of the tower. In his mind, he merely guided the flow of energy to a direction where exposure wouldn't hurt anyone. What happened in reality was a nit more spectacular, as the resulting shockwave blew apart the windows, the walls and the entire roof.

Giant cogs and debris came crashing down from the roof, but Matt casually flicked them aside with his Aura weapon and continued his own offense. He channeled the ions in the atmosphere and, as if sensing his attention, his Semblance plotted out the "route" he set.

The result was a thunderous roar as lightning crackled from his extended arm, arcing towards Cinder in an instant and striking her. There was no time for her to block, no time for her to even _think_ about dodging, before the deadly attack hit home.

Sensations following a move like that merely left his arm tingling weirdly, while it should have spelled death for anyone without the full protection of their Aura.

But Cinder was strong. Impossibly strong. She not only withstood the flash of lightning, but also shrugged it off so fast that her _own_ attack seemed like it came out of nowhere. The obsidian arrow sailed straight and true, and it was only because of instinct, training and luck that Matt was able to bring his arm up in time to block the arrow.

He was ready for the next three arrows. He stopped their momentum cold, used the kinetic energy to send them on a different path and guided them straight back towards Cinder, who incinerated them with a flash of fire. She then surged towards him again, seeking to pressure him into close-quarters combat again.

Matt saw it coming. In the split-second he had before she hit him, his mind cooperated with his Semblance to plot a new path for all the kinetic energy. He redirected the blow into the ground beneath them, which shattered under the duress. He was left unharmed, while Cinder was forced to abandon her assault.

The Adamant increased the scale of his attacks, desperate to take out his former friend before she could do more harm. Heat washed across the tower, hot enough to melt the rocks. Lightning crackled and sprung from cog to cog, creating a lethal network of electricity and his own blows landed with such force and speed that even the most seasoned Huntsman would have found their Aura pounded flat in an instant.

None of that could stop Cinder from brutalizing him in turn. She allowed him to burn himself out, while striking faster than he could predict, harder than he could adapt to. _His_ Aura had dissipated…what, halfway through the fight? Sooner?

Hers was almost gone, at least. That Grimm Dragon that had appeared, now strayed far away from their fight, as if knowing that the Adamant could take it down in an instant if it just came _close_ enough to target.

Cinder was the first to draw blood. The second and third, too, as she opened up several deep gashes on his body with well-placed arrows.

Of course, he had planned for that. The first principle of his family; a small sacrifice for a great victory.

And he found his victory in the form of an opening on her part. Cinder spread her arms to direct her flow of fire and he shot towards her, his Aura weapon at the ready. His Semblance designed a course of attack straight through her heart. He could strike. End it then and there. Save hundreds, if not thousands of people.

He should.

He _would_.

Except…he didn't.

"Coward…" Matt muttered as he lowered his weapon.

Cinder frowned. She didn't hesitate.

Two arrows punctured his body from close range. One in his abdomen, another one in his right calf.

They stuck, _hard_. Punctured vital organs, no doubt. Ruptured blood vessels, damaged tissues. Internal blood loss, trauma to vital areas. An incredible pain spread through his stomach and he lost control over his entire lower body. Any normal person would have been rendered unable to even _think_ by the blow.

Not him. Not completely. He banished the searing pain from his mind, attuned his thought processes to what needed to be done. Allowed his instinct and Semblance to guide him. Compartmentalization of a last resort. Almost subconscious.

Couldn't ignore the malignant energy that welled up inside of his wounds. The wound in his stomach and leg emitted a sickly red glow.

Couldn't allow that.

Cinder saw him work his Semblance. She gritted her teeth and lowered her obsidian bow.

"You've always been such a meddling fool," she growled. "Why couldn't you stay away?"

Matt broke the arrow in his abdomen. Managed to cancel out whatever was causing that red glow. Didn't know if he had enough time to save his leg as well. Had to try.

"You…know why…" he grunted. Didn't completely banish the pain, after all.

He sensed her before he saw her. Pyrrha Nikos, ever determined, leapt out of the ruined wreck of the elevator, her weapons at the ready. He hadn't anticipated on Pyrrha joining the fight. _Couldn't_ have anticipated her.

Cinder saw her. She raised her bow again. Not at the girl. At _him._ Readied another arrow. "You tried to kill me."

"Didn't _you_?"

She closed her eyes. "Perhaps."

The second arrow struck him in his calf as well. He could feel it burn inside of him. Turn his blood to white-hot napalm. Scorching his nerves.

He saw only one way to win. One way to end this.

Pyrrha had sealed her fate. What was another sacrifice, at this point?

The Adamant took a deep breath, Steadied his thoughts. Needed to be coherent.

Cinder stepped towards him. She placed her hand on his neck, almost loving. Her other hand went to his crippled leg. He could _feel_ the power radiating off of her. She was going to end him, then and there.

He didn't know if it was her Maiden power, or the things Onyx had done to her. In the end…in the end, it mattered little.

He could feel the tissues of his leg flash incinerating.

"I'm sorry…" he whispered, both to Pyrrha, as to Cinder. He lashed out with his Aura weapon, but not at Cinder. The razor-edge cleaved through his leg in one movement, lobbing it off underneath his knee. While he still could, he used his Semblance to turn the living tissue into raw, uncontrollable energy.

He'd always hated the notion of destiny.

Everything happened at once. As he used the last reserves of his own energy to throw Pyrrha off the roof, in one last-ditch effort to keep her from becoming yet another statistic, someone else reached the top of the tower.

Ruby Rose landed in a kneeling position amidst the rubble.

Matt felt a cold pit drop down his stomach. " _No!"_

There was no time to stop it. No time to adjust. He'd made his move, and they'd all suffer the consequences.

As Pyrrha Nikos plummeted, as Ruby Rose took what would certainly be her last gasp, as Cinder's eyes widened and the Dragon Grimm surged towards them, the eleventh-hour struck.

His world was consumed by the brightest, most brilliant light he'd ever seen.

Two thoughts shot through his head. The first was of his sister, and how doing this would probably be for the better.

The second was more of a retrospect realization. He convinced himself that, yes, he had known that Ruby's silver eyes were significant all this time.

~0~

* * *

Jaune saw the tower explode in a flash of the brightest white, vaporizing the entire upper section of the tower. Whatever just exploded, it produced a whole lot of scorched debris and pieces of molten steel.

And amidst the falling boulders and collapsing stones, he spotted the golden flash of Pyrrha's armour. She was falling too and he couldn't get to her in time.

"Pyrrha!" Jaune cried as he watched her hit the ground. "Pyrrha!"

There was no way someone could survive a fall like that. He could feel his pulse quicken, his stomach tighten. Why? Why did she have to do that? It could have been someone else. Anyone else! Why'd _she_ have to be the one to fight?

Jaune had never moved as fast in his life before, but still it felt like he was too slow, like he was making her wait. What injuries did a fall from such a height cause? Spinal injuries? Internal damage?

 _Gods, please be alive…_

The few moments it took to get to her felt like an eternity. She lay motionless on the ground, her spear embedded into the dirt a few feet away.

"Pyrrha! Can you hear me? Pyrrha!"

Her eyes fluttered, then opened fully. "J-Jaune…?"

His heart had to have skipped at least two beats there. She was alive!

Jaune immediately knelt down next to her, reaching for her hand. "I'm here. What happened? Where are you hurt?"

Her emerald eyes, always calm and determined, were now filled with pain and…was that fear?

"I can't…can't feel my legs…" She whispered.

"That's-" Jaune cut himself off, staring at Pyrrha's waist.

Spinal damage. That…that was spinal damage. If she couldn't feel her legs…"Pyrrha, we have to get you out of here! You can't stay, the Grimm and the White Fang -they're everywhere!"

Above them, the tower completely collapsed. Pieces of debris the size of a car smashed into the Academy's structure below.

Jaune barely noticed it, even as the molten droplets of metal rained down around them.

Pyrrha closed her eyes again. "Jaune…I'm sorry. Y-you should leave me."

"What? You shouldn't be joking right now Pyrrha, we really don't have time!"

"Jaune…"

Even though her voice was barely audible, nothing more than a whisper, Jaune still felt like all the other noises around him faded away. "I can't…no, I won't. I won't leave you!"

Pyrrha turned her head to look at him, then winced with pain. "I'm scared, Jaune." Her voice broke at the end. Her eyes were slowly growing wet. "And you're… _so_ …concerned."

"You say that like it's a bad thing! It's alright to be scared, Pyrrha. Even for you. I'll stay here, by your side, until someone gets you, alright?"

A howl erupted from inside the school, too close to comfort. It was soon joined by another, then another.

A sob escaped past her lips. "Emotions…" she muttered. "Dark feelings…it attracts _them_ -!"

Jaune gasped, realizing what she meant. How could he have been so stupid-? "Then -then I'll protect you, too! I won't let them take you!"

"Jaune, _please_! I don't…don't want to lose you!"

He knew that. He knew what she meant, but he'd be damned if he abandoned her again. "It's what the hero does, isn't it? He stays with the one he loves, no matter what the cost!"

A pained look crossed her face, and she couldn't keep biting back her tears. They freely flowed down her pale cheeks, dripping to the ground when she failed to wipe them away.

Jaune would be lying if he said he wasn't scared. In truth, he was terrified. Knowing that this wouldn't end well, knowing that there was a chance, a way out and that he had refused to take it...had this ended up any other way, he would have seen himself making it work with Pyrrha.

But sometimes, things just went wrong. And he was okay with that.

The Grimm didn't take long to find them. An Ursa crept up on them from the left, while a Beowolf was stalking them from the rear.

Jaune raised his sword and shield. All those training sessions with Pyrrha were about to pay off.

They charged. He kept his ground, sticking by Pyrrha until they were right on top of them. With his shield at the ready, he pivoted, blocking the weaker Beowolf while maiming the Ursa with his sword.

The giant bear-like creature howled and reared back on its hind legs, roaring at him like he could be intimidated.

And in all fairness, he was pretty damn intimidated. Didn't stop him from sticking his sword all the way into the Ursa's throat, however.

The Beowolf barked and circled around him, before lunging again.

And again, Jaune blocked it with his shield, after which he decapitated the monster with one strike.

"Hah!" He shouted. He could feel his fear fading away, his exhaustion leaving his limbs. All he could feel was the heat in his hands and chest, and the ground that shook as more creatures of darkness turned their attention to him and Pyrrha.

"Jaune!" She cried.

"Kind of busy!" He replied, trying to figure out which Grimm to block and which to strike. He was pretty sure that he shouldn't block the Ursai completely, but he was fighting from a fixed position. Beowolves were faster, and he needed to keep them from attacking Pyrrha.

"Behind you!"

Jaune spun around, stricken by the sheer distress in her voice, and saw a man walking towards them with large strides A man with shaggy hair, an unshaven face and dark clothes.

Was that…who was-?

Pyrrha had recognized him. "It's Blackwood! Jaune _, please, you_ have to leave me!"

But Jaune didn't listen to her. An Arc stayed true to their word, damnit! "Stay back!" He yelled at Blackwood. "Stay away from her!"

Of course the crazy, mute psychopath didn't listen. He came closer and closer, until he was close enough to hurt her.

With a loud cry, Jaune swung at him.

Blackwood easily caught his blade between two hands, wrenched it sideways as if it didn't weigh a thing and pulled it right out of Jaune's hands.

Jaune cried with surprise and stumbled backwards-

The Operative tossed his sword back, like giving a ball to a child, then plucked Pyrrha's spear from the ground. He ran his hand across the smooth blade, observing the weapon for several long moments. Then, faster than the eye could follow, he struck.

But not at them. He impaled one of the Beowolves that strayed too close and immediately pulled the spear free again, moving to engage the other Grimm.

In the span of -what, a second or two? Three?- the Grimm were all dead. Just like that.

The difference in skill between them was _insane_.

Jaune swallowed a lump in his throat and glanced at Pyrrha, who seemed about as puzzled as he was. Still, he had learnt to appreciate help no matter where it came from.

"I'm sorry," he said. He sheathed his sword and reached for Pyrrha's shoulders and legs, gently picking her up from the ground.

Her cries of pain couldn't have hurt him more, but he had to do this. Who knew when Blackwood decided that the Grimm weren't fun anymore, and that he rather liked to kill the humans instead?

"Hold on," Jaune told the crippled girl in his arms. "I'll get you out of here."

It was as if the Grimm knew that Pyrrha was so badly wounded, because they singled her out and went out of their way to attack her.

Except Blackwood wouldn't let them. As Jaune hurried to get Pyrrha to safety, the Operative was a flash of red and black around them, dashing from monster to monster with a speed that only Ruby's Semblance could rival. He didn't need to follow up with second attacks to make sure; wherever he struck, he dealt death.

And Jaune didn't bother question _why._ He had seen enough crazy things to know when to fold them; if Blackwood wanted to keep them alive, he wasn't going to question his motivations.

One of those massive robots -a Paladin, Ruby had called them- dropped down in front of them. He knew that the robots had turned bad, that someone must have hacked them. He had seen them, shooting people in the darkness.

He just hadn't expected to find them here, of all places. It was truly massive, easily towering over even the larger Grimm. Clad in thick, white armour, its arms were as thick as his entire body, while its fists could have torn a Nevermore wing from wing.

"Crap!" Jaune cried. He scanned the courtyard for a way out, or place to take cover, or someone else who could help them.

He didn't find help, but help found _him_. Apparently, Blackwood wasn't just happy with fighting the Grimm. He came out of nowhere and slammed into the Paladin with enough force to send it stumbling backwards, ripping out large chunks of metal and electronics with Pyrrha's spear.

Man versus machine, and man was winning, easily. He was too fast for the Paladin to hit back and struck it harder than it could take. Using the spear as leverage, he hit the big robot with an upwards blow and propelled himself up into the air.

"Holy-"

When Blackwood came back down on the Paladin, he did so _hard_. The ground virtually split apart underneath the mech's feet when the Operative speared it from above, nearly shearing it in half with the impact.

The Operative shot a look at Jaune. It spurred him on to get the hell out of there; they'd find Pyrrha a new weapon.

"Come on Pyrrha," he whispered to his partner. "Almost there. Almost safe."

She didn't reply. She had closed her eyes, and was resting her head against his chest.

Almost there.

~0~

* * *

The two troopers were making their way through the crumbling castle that had once been Beacon Academy. Both of them were armed, and both of them were more than willing to use those arms for the cause. It had, after all, been a _very_ long time coming.

It was obvious to them that it was just like Adam said. The schools, the government, _everybody_ was to blame. Everybody who was a part of the system, everybody who had ever worked with the system. They all had to pay.

Everybody.

The first White Fang soldier peered through the shattered window of the nearest room, checking it for any survivors. He remembered the brief training he'd had, and made sure the sights of his rifle followed his eyes as he scanned the corner and obvious hiding places.

"Clear," he told his comrade, who sighed in a frustrated manner.

"Again? Damn place is abandoned!"

.They pressed on, clearing room after room. This section of Beacon had been completely collapsed, just like that news anchor had said. Entire rooms were filled with rubble, hallways led into dead ends and sometimes, it was almost as if a part of the structure had been cut in two.

The two White Fang members didn't voice their opinions, but they both felt their anxiety starting to weigh down on them like a smothering carpet.

Their squad leader had reported that the students were trying to protect their school with force. If that was true, why hadn't they encountered any yet?

Killing those wannabe-heroes was why half the members of this assault had volunteered, after all.

"Smell that?"

"Yeah. Blood?"

"Exactly. Someone's bleeding."

They had to navigate past protruding pieces of metal and stone, keeping their eyes straight ahead to keep from bumping into anything. It was dark, but their sharp senses more than made up for that.

Eventually, the two of them came across the ruined remains of what looked like a hospice or something. Or something that looked like a hospice after someone had taken a sledgehammer and smashed the place to bits. A section had collapsed, burying two of the beds beneath a pile of stone. The glass cupboards were shattered, covering the floor in a thousand pieces of glass, faintly glimmering in the dim light.

"Fuck…" muttered the first trooper.

"…yeah."

Both Faunus were looking at the floor, where a very obvious trail of bloody footprints led towards the same door they had just.

"How the fuck did we miss those?!"

Feeling more than a little unnerved, the two White Fang soldiers pressed on, following the trail of bloody prints. Occasionally, they heard the telltale crunch of glass shattering beneath their boots.

The second trooper, a newcomer to the White Fang, felt oddly conflicted. Every fiber of his being told him that following a trail of blood should lead to a victim. A vulnerable target, a prey that couldn't escape.

On all fronts, an easy kill.

So why, he wondered, didn't he feel like the hunter anymore?

The trail didn't lead them far. Near the end of the hallway, two classrooms had survived the collapse of this section. The bloody trail, fresh but growing fainter, led into the second room.

Back on the base, the soldiers of the White Fang had been told to show no mercy. Mercy, as Adam put it, would only be exploited and met with treachery. The quickest route to death.

Keeping that advice in mind, the two Faunus barged into the classroom, weapons drawn.

What they found fit perfectly with the image of the ruined hospice and the footprints; a lonely, bleeding girl, lying against one of the seats in the bottom row.

She looked…wrong. The younger member wasn't sure why. She looked normal enough. Long, white-blonde hair, pale skin, a hospital gown…nothing out of the ordinary.

Yet something nagged at the back of his mind, telling him to get the hell out of there.

The girl didn't respond to their appearance, but the senses of a Faunus were hard to fool. The two White Fang members didn't take more than a moment to figure out that she was still breathing.

The younger member raised his gun to put an end to the human's life, but his companion quickly grabbed the barrel and shoved it down again.

"What the-?"

"Payback first," he growled. "You can shoot her when we're done."

The younger trooper felt his unease grew into outright worry. "What kind of payback?"

Without giving him a reply, the other Faunus marched towards the center of the classroom, transferring his gun to his left hand.

"You wanna know what makes the humans listen? What makes for the best kind of message? Watch-"

He had barely closed the distance when the girl suddenly opened her eyes.

To the younger White Fang trooper, a mere glance into that burning, purple stare was enough for everything to click into place. That feeling of not being the hunter anymore, the growing unease, the sheer _wrongness_ that the girl radiated.

It was the feeling of his Aura, warning him that he was in grave danger.

The other trooper felt it as well. It was enough for him to gasp and raise his gun, but it was too late.

A sharp pain shot through his arm. In shock, the soldier of the White Fang stared at the stump that was his arm, before he suddenly lost all sensation below his waist. He toppled, his bottom half hitting the marble floor before his lower half did.

The second White Fang member barely had the time to scream before something nigh-invisible tore through his neck in an instant. He experienced something akin to a freefall as the ground suddenly lurched upwards to meet his head, which was soon followed by the rest of his body.

Ancilla watched the various parts of the two Faunus fall. The blood went _everywhere_. She had to admit; if this was a dream, it was a very pretty one.

~0~

* * *

Having heard stories from Blake about the White Fang as a _people_ instead of an enemy put a damper on the thrill Alice felt as she picked them off one by one. It was difficult to murder people if you thought about who they were underneath their armour and behind their masks. It was a lesson she'd been taught at a young age, one that she had taken to heart the moment she realized how true it was.

Don't think about your victims as if they were people.

At that very moment, fighting on Blake's behalf, Alice hated the girl. She hated Blake for insisting how _misguided_ and _desperate_ the Faunus of the White Fang were.

It didn't matter how misguided or desperate a kid was when it was trying to kill you! That lesson had been burned into her mind and she would never, ever be able to let that go.

Alice sidestepped a sluggish, overhead swing aimed at her face and tore through her assailant's throat with a quick movement. She then ducked low, swept the feet away from underneath two other White Fang members and brained a third.

A fourth stepped in close and tried to spray her with automatic weapon fire, but she intercepted him before he could hit her and spun him around, hosing his comrades with gunfire instead.

She snapped his neck, pocketed a new magazine and gunned down the survivors.

Their leader. Adam Taurus. A young man with a _hell_ of a grudge and a superiority complex greater than hers. He was the key to this downright _insulting_ attack on Beacon. If she put him down, it'd bring an end to this uprising and remove another threat to Blake's life.

It'd spare the girl from having to do it herself. Alice had very little doubt that Blake would clam up at the worst possible moment and end up getting killed because ofit.

She wondered what that felt like, doubt so powerful it made you stay your hand even when it could cost you your life. She thought about Sergeant Dusk, and how he had been as much as a mentor to her as Adam had been to Blake.

If her life depended on it, she wouldn't hesitate to end the man. You didn't need to be a child soldier to know that, when it came down to it, your own life was always a priority above your enemy's. That went double if your comrades were at risk.

No need for guilt there.

She found him sooner than she expected. She simply had to follow the bodies; what little Atlesian soldiers had stayed behind to help defend Beacon were no match for a ruthless murderer like Taurus, and his ego probably demanded him to go after them as soon as possible.

The screams were a sign that she was heading the right direction as well.

Remarkably, the cafeteria had remained intact after Ancilla's mental breakdown. Intact, of course, was entirely subjective.

Parts of it were on fire, and all but one of the windows had been shattered. Several bodies lay draped across the tables, cut down without mercy.

There he stood, in the middle of the carnage. _Smiling._

Had she actually been somewhat lucid, Alice might have thought it creepy, that she and Taurus had the same psychopathic traits. At this point though, she was too tired. She simply wanted this to be over with.

He heard her approach. He must have. His mask hid his features, but Alice could easily imagine the rage in his eyes as he recognized her. Onyx hadn't exactly been kind to the White Fang. Neither had she, for that matter

She really wished the ground would stop spinning…

"I know you," he snarled, placing his hand on the sheath of his sword.

Alice thought it odd that he wouldn't draw it. Faintly, she recognized the gesture, the stance. Or…well, at least she thought she did. Her mind was just to sluggish to actually process it.

She brushed past her hip to draw her sword, and was surprised to find that it wasn't there.

"Of all the people…" Taurus growled.

Ah…that was right. She wasn't geared up

That might be a problem.

Taurus didn't say anything else as he launched himself towards her. In one smooth gesture, he drew his sword and slashed at her neck.

He was really fast. Alice's foggy mind wasn't able to keep up, and it was only because of her finely-honed reflexes and homicidal instincts that she managed to avoid getting cut up

Alice advanced on him and threw a punch, hitting him in the stomach.

Her fist connected, painfully, but it didn't seem to faze him.

Too sluggish to realize that Adam was wearing body armour underneath his coat, Alice continued hitting him, convinced that her superior strength would outmatch him.

Taurus swung again and her Semblance kicked in. Alice backed away, then pounced. Her hands wrapped around the Faunus's neck and she threw him to the ground over her hips, hoping that the impact would at least break some of his bones.

But she lacked the strength to properly finish the throw and her opponent managed to stay on his feet. He skidded across the floor on all fours, then sheathed his sword again.

Alice felt her neck prickle at the sight of that stance, but she didn't understand why. So when Taurus closed in on her again, she simply went on the offensive again.

His blade erupted from his sheath with such blinding speed that even Alice's Semblance didn't allow her to act fast enough. The blade carved a deep trail across her stomach, cutting through her remaining Aura like it wasn't there.

He followed up with more swings, and Alice tried to back away. She had to actively will her Semblance to stay active and, even though each of his strike missed by a hair, she started getting scared.

Not because of the lunatic standing in front of her, though. No. She could feel her heart painfully contracting and relaxing every second she spent viewing the world through her Semblance

Her knife, she realized. She still had a knife strapped to her ankle!

The pain in her chest arced towards her left arm.

 _Fuck, fuck, fuck-_

She had pushed herself too far, used her Semblance too much. It didn't take a genius to guess when.

The sword entered its sheath again and Alice felt her concentration break, her Semblance slipping beyond her reach.

It didn't matter, she could still do this. He needed time to draw, time to strike. If she could just get in one good hit-

She felt the strength go out of her arms, a slow but incredible pain tearing through her midsection.

Adam's features contorted into a wicked grin.

The sword. How?

Alice staggered backwards, clutching her abdomen with both her hands. Her entire torso was bleeding, crimson blood pouring from behind her fingers. Her clothes were torn from shoulder to hip.

Faintly, she could hear someone yelling.

Alice closed her eyes, tried to use her Semblance and found herself unable to. It was a pain concentrated in one area, but it was so immense that it made her entire body react. She was too weak, too tired to banish the pain. Too tired to channel the pain into something useful. Her ears buzzed, her vision wavered.

Again, someone screamed.

Alice felt her knees hit the floor. There was a blur of motion in front of her, accompanied by the sharp _twang_ of metal striking metal.

"Alice!"

"Her? Really?"

"Leave her alone!"

Alice clutched her stomach, and felt her muscles clench. Her chest heaved, and she was unable to prevent a groan of pain escaping past her lips .

The knife at her ankle. She had to get it.

The fight around her raged on. Vague shapes clashed and moved in blurs of red and black.

It took Alice three attempts to free the knife from its holster, with her leaning against the ground to keep from collapsing completely.

Moving the blade with her left arm made her seize up in pain.

Useless.

She transferred it to her right. Less painful that way.

She looked up, gritting her teeth as the movement pulled at her stomach.

Adam was still there. Fighting with Blake. _Winning_ from Blake. He battered her sword aside and struck her across her face, hard. She crashed to the ground.

Alice managed a step towards them. She very nearly fell.

Another step.

Adam was talking now. She couldn't hear what he said -didn't _want_ to hear it. She focused on the body instead of her environment. She told herself that this wasn't the worst injury she'd ever gotten, that she would get through this like she had so many times before.

Her Semblance didn't work the way it was supposed to. The pain that lanced through her left arm wasn't as agonizing as the torn and ruined muscles in her chest and stomach. Still, it reminded her that she had gone too far, overused her Semblance too much. The world was in constant flux, alternating between moving tremendously fast and unbearably slow .

Yet she wasn't able to move fast enough to prevent Adam from taking his sword and stabbing down at Blake's gut.

The scream of pain was drowned out by a scream of seething rage, that erupted from the other end of the dining hall.

"And _her_ as well."

Alice managed to find stability the moment Adam turned away from Blake again. She saw Blake's partner, Will's spark, virtually _throwing_ herself Adam's way, coaxed into an enraged attack.

She saw Blake's expression, horrified, and the little smirk underneath Adam's mask.

Two out of four people knew what was about to happen.

His sword shot back to his sheath.

 _Shit_.

Three out of four, now

Fuck it. Fuck it all. If it was going to be like this, she might as well go out on _her_ terms.

The sword sprang from its sheath and Adam gripped its hilt, dragging it upwards towards the girl's neck-

Alice leapt in the way, lifting her left arm to push Yang out of the way just enough for the sword to miss its intended mark.

The blood-red blade cleaved through her useless arm, cutting it off below her elbow. Alice used her remaining momentum to bring her other arm up, and drove the knife deep into Adam's thigh.

He screamed, clutching his leg, while Alice simply _laughed._ She laughed even as she felt her legs give out underneath her and someone quickly reached out to support her.

The way she understood it, she didn't stop laughing even as everything went dark.

~0~

* * *

People were running around the building, armed. They wore white masks and black clothes, adorned with white armour.

They gave him an odd feeling, a sense of…familiarity? Nostalgia?

He didn't know. He tried to think back to his previous experience with them and found nothing.

What was their name?

He felt like he should have known it. Seeing them spread across the place, shouting orders to each other, it struck a familiar cord.

 _My name is Will_ , he thought. _Greystone. Ex-Onyx._

He clung to that information, like a drowning man reaching for a floating piece of wood. It was the only thing he knew for certain, the only way to keep a hold of his own identity.

He was alone here. Everyone else was a stranger. Even this place, with its holding cells and dark, stone walls, felt hostile. He had woken up here, locked away in what had looked like a cell.

Except the door hadn't been locked.

Vibrations rocked the floor again. Several of the armed people were thrown into nearby walls and pillars.

 _My name is Will. Greystone._

There should have been lights in here. It was too dark, which made little sense. But the people with the masks didn't seem like it bothered them much; they easily navigated the barely-lit rooms, constantly sweeping their guns from the left to the right.

One of them spotted him. Even in the darkness, observing them from the corner of his cell.

"Another one!" The person shouted. The voice belonged to a female, but he didn't recognize it.

Will hesitated. His gut was telling him to _strike_ , to go on the offensive and hurt them before they could hurt him. It was an odd response to a very stressful situation, because he didn't know these people. They could be part of a rescue operation, or even a search party or something.

"What are you waiting for? Get him!"

They started shooting.

He gasped and immediately scrambled away from the entrance, trying to find cover. Too soon one of them rounded the corner, holding a sword instead of a gun.

Will felt his heart leap when he saw the weapon, but didn't completely understand why.

The hostile shouted and swung his blade. Will tensed up, trying to recall how to defend himself against armed enemies. He brought his arms up-

And blanked.

The hesitation, the uncertainty, it was enough for his enemy to get a good hit in. The sword raked across his chest, cut through clothes and skin alike. Beads of blood poured through the open wound, staining his uniform.

The hostile pulled the sword back, leaving himself open, open for a counterattack.

But Will didn't _use_ it. Instead, he tried to back away, frightened of the man and his weapon.

Except he wasn't. He didn't feel the fear he was supposed to feel, even when bleeding and under attack by what had to be a lunatic. No, he felt strangely calm, with more puzzling emotions at his core, which he failed to recognize.

The masked man was joined by another hostile. She was unarmed. They pressed the attack together

Instinctively, Will raised his hands to protect himself. He saw the sword pass by his face, a mere inch away, and experienced the kick of _joy_ when he realized it wouldn't hit him, when the enemy left himself open again.

The joy turned to something more ugly when he realized he could strike, when he realized he could _hurt_ his opponent.

But he couldn't remember how to do it.

The second hostile hit him, slamming her fist into his face.

Pain, mixed with a dark sense of _desire ._ His heartbeat fastened, his pulse quickened, and he didn't understand why.

Why was he _liking_ this?

They settled for beating him, for reasons he was no longer capable of understanding. They were vocal about their feelings, about their hatred and rage, and they frightened him.

Fear, mixed with that out-of-place sensation of savage joy.

In their struggle, Will managed to get a hold of the blade, catching it near the handle. His opponents, despite their apparent and seething hatred of him, were physically weaker. He ripped it away from its owner-

He stopped. Something warm coated one side of his face, slowly running down his cheeks towards his chin. Wet, salty.

When he brought his hand to his cheek, it came away stained with red.

Paint?

He glanced down, spotting two corpses lying at his feet. Broken, cut down with a bladed weapon.

Blood.

His stomach tightened with dismay and he stumbled backwards. There was nothing on the floor to trip over, but he still lost his footing.

 _My name is Will. Ex…no. My name is Will, and…ex…and…grey…_

He ran his arm across his face, frantically trying to get the blood off, before he realized something.

He had _no_ idea where he had placed his pencils. She was going to be _pissed_ with him, the girl.

He halted. Something was wrong.

She…the _girl._

He frowned, racking his mind for her name.

The girl! She was his friend, more than that! Intimate, important, _safe_ -!

He struggled to recall her name for a few more moments, then told himself that he would remember it eventually. He had another problem to worry about, anyway.

Making his way towards what had to be the exit of this weird place, he nearly bumped into someone. The person cursed and staggered backwards, clutching his mask before it could fall.

He looked at the masked man, frowning. Something about the white mask made him feel…angry. No, more than that. Satisfied in a _physical_ way, but burning with the desire to _hurt_ him.

Suddenly, he was all too aware of the fact that he had no idea where he was. For reasons he no longer completely understood, he grabbed the masked man by the front of his vest and threw him down the stairs.

He was on him before the man could even crawl back to his feet, grabbing him by the back of his head.

He slammed his face against the ground, hard. The mask cracked, but held.

"Who are you!" He demanded.

The man sputtered, trying to wrestle free, but a quick kick against his side solved that.

"Are you fucking crazy?"

He hauled the man to his feet, slamming his face against the wall again. This time, the mask shattered and fell free from his face.

No, that wasn't the right question. It wasn't…he didn't want to know that.

"Where are we?" He shouted at the stranger,

"The fuck-"

Another kick, throwing the man to the ground. "Where!"

"Beacon, you goddamn loon!"

He grabbed the man and slammed his head against the wall a third time. The stone broke, the man went limp.

Beacon. The word had no meaning to him. He'd find his own way out.

~0~

 **AN:** we're getting close to the end, here.


	23. Chapter 23

**AN: at long last, the finale to the story.**

 **The rest of the Author's Note is at the end of the chapter.**

~0~

* * *

Damn Grimm had infested the Academy grounds. They were everywhere; ruling the skies, bringing down the remaining structures, hell, they were even rummaging through what remained of the buildings they hadn't torn down.

But someone down there was giving them hell and Qrow Branwen thought he knew who.

"Ozpin!" The seasoned Huntsman cried as he dashed through the ruined remains of Beacon, his weapon having taken the form of the single-edged greatsword. "Oz! Where are you?"

He knew that the Headmaster was still alive, he _had_ to be! Ozpin was the only man who could make sense of this mess, the only person who could regroup the survivors and make them an effective force again. Without him, the entire Inner Circle would fall apart!

But as Qrow rushed through the ruins, dodging Grimm and falling debris as he went, a dark feeling started settling in his stomach. The tower was gone, but the Grimm were still making their way there as if nothing had changed. Ruby and Matt had blown it completely to smithereens. Where was the Headmaster _supposed_ to be?

But he pushed those thoughts out of his mind, and pressed on. Somewhere close by, the roars and screams of a whole mess of Beowolves reached a crescendo, before suddenly getting cut off. A pair of Griffons dropped down to attack something, but didn't take off again.

That was him. It had to be.

Qrow redoubled his efforts to cut a path through the Grimm and leapt over a fallen boulder, landing in what looked like a manmade clearing amidst the rubble. He saw a pile of bodies, neatly arranged against a torn-down wall. Three Atlesian soldiers, four foreign students and even two boys from Beacon. There was also a girl he didn't know, with pink and brown hair

A man stood in the middle of the clearing, wielding that Nikos girl's spear. With it, he pinned down a Deathstalker, bisected an Ursa and impaled a Griffon that came too close. Upon hearing sensing Qrow's presence, he turned around to face him.

It wasn't Ozpin.

It was Blackwood.

Except it wasn't the Alan Blackwood Qrow knew, of course. It wasn't the young boy who had single-handedly killed off a Goliath at the ripe age of ten, as Summer found out to her delight, or the legendary Dark Forest, as Ozpin used to call him, who would stand between entire armies of Grimm and their targeted cities without support. This was a man who had forgotten his own name, his own past, with nothing left inside his mind reminiscent of love, or friendship, or courage.

Qrow saw the row of bodies, added to that the presence of a student's weapon in the hands of a person who should not even be capable of using weapons anymore, and guessed the rest.

Scowling, he readied his weapon and charged the Onyx warrior. Partially as a form of payback for what Blackwood had done to Yang, and partially to set what remained of the boy's soul free.

Three times they clashed. Concrete shattered, rocks crumbled and Qrow had depleted a third of his ammunition by the time he realized that Blackwood wasn't fighting back. He whipped his sword over his head, took two large bounds backwards and took to observing.

The Onyx warrior warily eyed Qrow, his blood-red eyes clearly visible underneath his shaggy, black hair.

Qrow took notice of the uncanny resemblance to Raven, and felt a shiver run down his spine. Those eyes weren't the eyes of a madman, or an animal. They were filled with passion and a calculating edge that seemed uncharacteristic for what everybody kept saying about him.

The Huntsman glanced at the row of bodies. One of the soldiers stirred, his fingers twitched. At first glance, they appeared like they were dead. That didn't hold under scrutiny; he could now see that they were very much breathing, very much alive.

 _Psychopath my ass._

 _T_ hat meant Yale was a dirty, dirty liar. Then again, he was with Onyx. Lying was his profession.

Confused, Qrow glanced at Blackwood again. "You're…protecting them?"

Blackwood transferred the spear to his left hand, then jammed it into the ground.

"That's not much of a response."

With his right hand, Blackwood ran his index and middle fingers across his throat, before clenching his hand into a fist. When Qrow shot him a questioning look, he repeated the gesture.

That time, Qrow understood. "But that is. Can't talk, can ya? Huh…guess that'll leave the talking to me. I don't trust you. Whatever you once were, it's gone now."

Blackwood blinked.

"But even so, if you get those people out of here in one piece, that's a good deed by my book. Any other survivors out there?'

He shook his head.

Qrow scowled. "There's gotta be. Ozpin wouldn't die on us!"

To that, Blackwood didn't respond.

"Ah, screw it. You do what you must. I'll find the Headmaster."

But even as Qrow uttered the words, he felt his hesitation nag at him. The Ozpin he knew, would have come wandering out of the ruins by now. The Ozpin he knew wouldn't lose to something like a Grimm invasion.

Spurred on by that line of thinking, Qrow pushed deeper into the overrun ruins of Beacon, slaying every Grimm that stood in his way.

Soon, he heard the telltale noise of gunfire and explosions, followed by screaming. It wasn't the fearful kind of screaming, where civilians would literally push each other in the way of the enemy to get to safety. No, this sounded like a certain blonde niece of his, going all out.

Qrow instantly forgot about his mission to find Ozpin and headed towards the source of the commotion.

It didn't take him very long to find it; something crashed through a wall to his right, having been smashed through the thick stone with overwhelming force.

The mangled remains of a Beowolf. Huh. Qrow guessed he was on the right track.

He peered through the wall and saw Yang standing in the middle of a large room, which had partially collapsed. Steel support bars had snapped like twigs, but fallen over in such a way that they prevented the tons of debris from completely burying the room.

Yang was limping, and bleeding from several wounds. A young woman lay at her feet -Ancilla, Qrow presumed- and his niece was forced to stay put to defend her.

That wouldn't work. Already, a massive Beowolf was blindsiding Yang, slowly skulking towards her without making any noise. He even came close enough to land a devastating blow.

Hell, had Qrow not been there, it might have actually _landed_ said blow. As it was now though, it's massive claw only managed to impale itself on the end of his sword.

Yang spun around when she heard the best roar. Her red eyes widened when she saw her uncle. There wasn't a thing on Remnant that could match her beaming smile. "Uncle Qrow!"

"Hey kiddo," Qrow said, mimicking her smile if only to reassure her. "You missed this one."

He then pulled his sword back and swung, neatly beheading the Beowolf.

"I can't find Will!" Yang then said, taking the time to nurse some of her sores. "And I can't even get Ancilla to talk -I don't know what to do!"

"I'll tell you what to do," Qrow replied, loading his ranged weapon as another pack of Beowolves appeared. Damn things weren't tough, but there were so _many_ of them. "We're going to get you two out of this place and back to your team. It's not safe out here."

"I can handle some Grimm!" Yang angrily and stubbornly shot back.

"A few Grimm, sure. But the enemy is still out there, and you sure as hell can't handle _them_. Not as you are now."

Yang uttered a cry of frustration, then took her anger out on an Alpha Beowolf which came too close, cracking open its skull. "Fine! But we're not leaving the campus until I've got him back! He's vulnerable, and he can't defend himself from all of this!"

Qrow recalled his conflict with the "vulnerable" Greystone, who had taken Ironwood apart with his bare hands _before_ taking on an entire student ream and Goodwitch on his own. As far as he knew, Yang was the only girl who could look at a guy like that and think "yeah, I need to protect him".

But, he also knew better than to argue with women. "Sure, sure. Just keep your head down."

The floor trembled dangerously and the metal beams groaned in response.

"Tai would _kill_ me if I let the enemy as much as touch you."

~0~

* * *

Professor Glynda Goodwitch saw them take her. At the outskirts of the besieged Academy, amidst the rampaging Grimm, they were taking her. Onyx soldiers, escorting the still-wounded Fall Maiden to one of their sleek, black transports. Leading the soldiers was a man she knew all too well.

"Frost," growled the Huntress. She whipped out her weapon and strode towards them, intent on stopping them from kidnapping the Maiden. If they had Amber in their hands, they knew of the Vault. If they knew of the Vault, they knew where Ozpin had gone.

Goodwitch would make them talk. The time for mercy was at an end.

The disgraced Schnee turned around to face her when she approached them. Surrounding him were at least four soldiers clad in white, sleek armor, their faces concealed behind bone-white helmets without visors. A long strip of red polymer in the middle of the helmet curved to the top.

It looked like the Maiden was unconscious; one soldier took her to the back of the craft in a bridal carry position, treating her deceitfully gentle.

"Stop," Glynda snapped at them, even as Frost Schnee gestured for the soldiers to continue. "I will not let you take her!"

His face a mask of impassiveness, Frost replied, "You failed, Huntress. You couldn't keep her safe. The enemy almost got their hands on her. Now, Onyx will keep her safe. Just like we have, for untold generations."

Goodwitch was tired of Onyx' self-righteous nonsense; they were the enemy, plain and simple. "Be silent, child. Ozpin has tolerated your crimes for long enough. Give her back, or I will take her from you!"

The white-clad soldiers stopped, but Frost gestured for them to continue, displaying an almost callous disregard for her demands.

Infuriated by that gesture, Glynda called upon her Semblance to launch several pieces of debris towards their ship, intent on denying them their escape. Tired she might be, but she still believed she could take on a handful of _children_ holding guns, pretending like they were soldiers.

That changed when her Semblance utterly failed to activate. She swung her wand again, but nothing happened. Frost leered at her, his cold, empty eyes locked with hers.

His Resemblance to Weiss Schnee was eery.

"What are you trying to prove to yourself?" Said Frost, calmly walking towards her. "That you are better than we are? That the world doesn't need us?"

"Ozpin would-"

"Ozpin is gone!" Frost suddenly shouted. His voice had a mechanical flanging effect to it, so subtle that Goodwitch almost couldn't hear it at all. "He failed to even stop one of her _minions_ and soon, some innocent foolout there will have a brand-new voice in his head."

In response to those outrageous claims, Glynda created a circular thundercloud using her last reserves of Dust, then tried to use her Semblance to conjure up a series of ice spikes to launch at the soldier, but _again_ it wouldn't work. It was as if her Semblance wasn't even there anymore.

The storm still raged on, however, tearing at his Aura and clothes. The fabric on his left arm was shredded by the Dust-infused storm, revealing a robotic arm underneath.

Frost didn't even blink as he strode towards her, and the Huntress felt a stab of fear upon recalling his reputation, but she didn't relent.

Then, Frost _smiled_ ; a little, insane smirk appearing on his face. "I wish the reject would have left Oz' alive; killing him would have been so much more satisfying than ending another _harlot_."

Glynda utilized another portion of her Dust to conjure up a protective barrier in front of herself, to keep the madman away.

"You Huntresses never learn, do you? Depending on your Semblance _never works_!"

The Onyx slave opened fire with his rifle, shattering Glynda's protective barrier. The Huntress forewent her Semblance-induced attacks and opted to go for the close quarters combat, still convinced that her training would see her through.

In doing so, she made two terrible mistakes. The first was assuming that Frost, being the same age as many of her students, would display the same amount of skill in melee as they did. The second mistake was assuming he fought by the same standards, the same rules, as she did.

Glynda was wrong on both accounts. She had more experience and swung struck faster, but Frost had excellent timing, scoring several devastating blows that further depleted her Aura, and fought with the sort of brutal pragmatism that none of her students had managed to replicate in her years as a teacher.

The Huntress grimaced, staggering backwards. She felt her Aura give away underneath a savage hit against her throat and cursed her lack of endurance; she had been fighting the Grimm and hacked robots ever since this mess started, while she had no idea what Frost had been doing in the meantime.

She struck again with her cane, hoping that her Semblance would stop hampering and _work_. Frost deflected her blow and locked her right hand, weapon and all, under his armpit. Glynda attempted to counter with a knee strike to his chest, but it barely fazed him.

He replied with a headbutt, knocking off her glasses and sending her stumbling backwards.

Once more, Goodwitch attempted to strike him, using the last of her Dust in an attempt to send him sprawling to the ground.

He kicked her hand away, then followed up with a side kick to her ribs. He then stomped on her foot, breaking her concentration. She tried to defend herself, but hit her straight in her throat, took his time to shatter her glasses underneath his feet and kicked her to the ground.

"They always depend on their Semblance to see them through," said Frost. "You, the lucky few, born with the power to bend others to your will. This - _all_ of this- is all on you."

The Huntress coughed, shakily getting back to her feet. "I am not the one…the one attacking the people trying to _protect_ the innocent. I'm not…attacking a Huntress fighting the Grimm! What does that make you?"

"I know," replied Frost, an insane smile forming on his face. "Welcome to my life!"

With that, he pulled back his fist and struck her in her stomach. Just before he hit her, a long, barbed spike emerged from his gauntlet, thinner than the sheath of an arrow, yet sharp enough to easily impale her all the way through her abdomen.

Frost pulled back and the spike broke off at the base. An incredible pain slowly shot through Gynda's abdomen, which only worsened when Frost hit her two more times, embedding two more of those barbed spikes into her body.

"If you're so desperate for me to be the monster, then I'll be a _monster_ ," he hissed at her, before dropping her body to the ground.

Lying on her back in a slowly-increasing pool of her own blood, the fallen Huntress turned her head to _glare_ at her assailant. Silently, unable to muster the energy to speak, she cursed him, hoping that the rest of his miserable life would be the exact same as the one he was living right now.

Perhaps he knew what she thought. Perhaps not.

Frost pulled his hand back, to deal the finishing blow, yet he did not strike her. Something outside of Glynda's field of vision stopped him, and he rose to his knees.

"You-" he started, before a barrage of Atlesian gunfire pelted his Aura. He staggered backwards, his hands raised to ward off the fire.

Someone knelt down next to the Huntress, placing himself between her and the Onyx soldier. It was a man, large, with shaggy black hair that reached to his shoulders. She didn't know him.

Frost did. "You're too late. Onyx is taking it back. The Maidens, the Relics, all of it. The armies will sweep across Remnant, and nothing can stop them."

The person shielding Glynda did not reply. He merely stared at Frost, who signaled his men to take off.

"Not even you."

Slowly, the darkness took her.

~0~

* * *

Lisa Adamant was not having the best day of her life. Right as her team and her had been getting ready to win ultimate glory for team LACG -and Beacon, of course- someone had blown the Academy to smithereens. And then the Grimm arrived to take those smithereens and break them into even smaller smithereens.

It was not fair, it was bullshit and it wasn't fair!

Even worse, Lisa had lost track of her Cho and her Grace. She was left with only her Alessa to kick the living shit out of a whole lot of Grimm, which wasn't easy to do with only two pairs of feet. And to top it off, she had _no_ clue where her brother was. If there was any situation where she needed Matt, it was now!

"Behind you!" Alessa cried, her Semblance slash not-Semblance warning her of the enemies that they couldn't physically see.

Lisa uttered a loud cry and swept her bladed rifle through empty air, sending her stumbling.

"The other behind you," Alessa said with exasperation.

The next moment, a Beowolf crashed into the Adamant, sending her crashing to the ground. "That was bullshit!" She cried, before sending a 20mm explosive round through the monster's brain. Thankfully, her weapon was fifty percent knife, fifty percent gun.

Though Grace always seemed to argue against those percentages…

"Pay more attention," Alessa bit at her, using her wrist-mounted claws to slash at a charging Ursa.

"Kiss my ass!" Lisa shot back, loading another supply of ammunition. The monsters were everywhere, and she didn't have a whole lot of gun left. Once she was out, she would be left with an oversized knife that ended in a trigger.

Not that there was anything _wrong_ with that…

Alessa and Lisa fended off the Grimm for another tense few minutes. Then, something strange happened.

A black ship dropped out of the sky, only to come to a sudden stop a few meters away from them.

"What the fu-"

Dark figures dropped down from the ship's open hatch, moving a bit too fast and a bit too elegant for Lisa to trust the situation.

"Alessa, get back!"

But there was no back to get to. The Onyx soldiers -because nobody on Remnant had that gloomy fashion sense and graveyard attitude- quickly moved to surround them.

"Little biscuit?" Lisa asked, unable to mask the sudden kick of desperation she felt as she cried out for her little adopted child soldier. "Is that you? Is one of them you?"

But they weren't little biscuit. These soldiers were too tall to be Ash, and they looked like they were about to attack them as well.

"Now hold the fuck up!" Lisa told them when they started to creep closer, their rifles trained directly at her head. "I think you've confused us for the Grimm. You see, they are right over there and-"

One of the soldiers walked up to her and slammed the butt of his rifle against her stomach. Lisa gasped and doubled over, her Aura managing to absorb most of the blow.

"Take her," he ordered his soldiers, who then came for Alessa.

"That one was for free," Lisa groaned. She balled her hand into a fist and nailed the asshole in the place on his helmet where his mouth was supposed to be.

At least, she tried. The goon quickly intercepted her fist, executed an arm-lock that left her stumbling towards him and then kicked her in her face.

Again, Lisa crashed to the ground, cursing that dancer-like elegance that these Onyx fucks seemed to have going on for them.

"Alright asshat, fuck you!" She yelled. She saw Alessa try to make a run for it, so that she could use her superior senses to make small hit-and-mess-you-up attacks, but they didn't let her. These soldiers were just as ninja as Belladonna was, and much faster. Her teammate didn't get far before they intercepted her, forcing her to engage in close quarters combat.

Which basically amounted to suicide against those messed-up child soldiers.

Lisa swung at the soldier in front of her again, but he easily evaded her sluggish blow and kicked her in her sternum.

She staggered backwards, ending up with her back against a very literal wall.

"If you leave my teammate alone, I won't kick your ass too hard!" She growled.

He gave zero fucks and proceeded to open up a roundhouse kick against her head, which she barely managed to block. With only basic hand-to-hand to defend herself with, she would have had a hard time against Yang, let alone a person trained since childhood to kill with his bare hands. He utterly demolished her defenses, pummeling down her Aura with ease.

Lisa tried to back away, to use her Semblance to buy herself some time, but the walls of stone she pulled from the ground didn't do jack-diddly-shit against the fuck. He vaulted over and parkoured past the obstacles she erected between them and launched himself at her with enough force to crack the stones beneath them on impact.

Lisa felt something give away in her chest and fell to the ground, coughing and gasping.

Alessa didn't look like she was fighting anymore. The girl was even more fragile than Weiss in close-quarters. She could dish out like nobody's business, but she might as well have been made out of glass when it came to taking hits.

And these guys hit like goddamn trains.

The soldier threw her to the ground over his hip, then picked her up by her throat

"Come on…" Groaned Lisa. "Leave her alone…you can take me, if you want. If you're willing to face my brother…fuck, this hurts…Matt will fuck you the fuck up!"

The soldier appeared confused for a moment. "Matt Adamant…your brother?"

"Yes you douche-noggle, Matt Adamant my brother."

The man seemed confused for a few moments. "Matt Adamant was…confirmed KIA when the tower fell."

Lisa barely had the time to process what he had just told her when he changed his grip on her throat, lifted her overhead and brought her down on his knee, spine first.

Something audibly broke, and the Adamant started screaming.

~0~

* * *

"Ruby!"

She stepped out of the side, a flash of her rapier ending another life.

"Ruby, wake up!"

A conflagration of fire manifested behind her, illuminating the dark night, so that none of her foes might escape her wrath. The beasts hissed and backed away, granting her another fleeting moment of respite.

"Why won't you wake up!"

Overhead, the Nevermore shrieked, showering the ground with its razor-sharp feathers.

Weiss Schnee was forced to conjure a shield of ice, encasing herself and her partner to shield them from the barrage.

One of the projectiles managed to tear through the cold prison, nicking her shoulder. Her Aura managed to absorb the blow, but after that it flickered and faded away, leaving her utterly vulnerable.

But not defenseless.

Weiss loaded up her third charge of Cyan Dust and blew away the front of the ice shelter, along with a pack of Beowolves who had crept too close.

The bright light of the Dust played havoc with her night vision, even more so than the fire, and by the time she could see well enough again to make out the individual bodies of the Grimm horde that was menacing Ruby and her, she noticed that she was no longer alone.

The five of them almost seemed to materialize from the night, their black armour almost perfectly blending in with the night. They had surrounded her with a loose semi-circle, boxing her in against the Grimm.

Onyx soldiers.

"Back off!" Yelled Weiss, shifting her stance to engage this new threat. "Don't come near her!"

"It is her," muttered one of the child soldiers. A girl, judging by her voice. "She has the Silver Eyes."

"Indeed."

"She has."

"Her eyes are silver."

"Agreed."

The other four – _very_ creepy- kids were male. What did they want?"

"She isn't White Cloak," mused the girl.

"She is not."

"Does it matter?"

"No."

"Agreed. If we lose her, we lose all."

As one, the soldiers raised their rifles. Weiss gasped, then immediately loaded her last charge of Dust that would allow her to shield herself and Ruby from harm, if only for a moment.

But the blistering hail of bullets was not directed at Ruby, nor at Weiss herself. Instead, the five black-clad soldiers unleashed hell on the Grimm behind her.

Weiss wasted no time in ducking low, swinging Ruby's arm across her shoulders and pulling her up. "Come on!" She grunted. "Get up!"

"The one with the white hair protects her," said one of the boys.

"She does."

"Agreed."

Weiss couldn't care less about the creeps and what they thought of her; as long as they covered her and didn't move to stab her in the back, she would tolerate them.

With five trigger-happy soldiers protecting her, the escape back to the exfiltration zone was a lot there, however, Weiss almost wished she hadn't found the zone at all.

It became obvious to Weiss that she was one of the few combatants still standing. She stood among the wounded, the dying and the dead, forced to listen to their screaming, their moaning and their crying. Atlas had been swept aside by the onslaught of the Grimm, opting to focus their remaining firepower on the largest forms of Grimm. Out here, at Beacon, the only people who stood between the evacuees at the landing pads and the hordes of ravenous monsters, were those who were able to fight beyond their exhaustion and wounds. That meant Huntsmen, Huntresses and the small handful Onyx soldiers Weiss had brought with her. But they were spread thin, and they couldn't hold forever.

Beacon had fallen. That much was certain. The once-mighty collection of spires, castles and structures now lay in ruins. Nevermores circled above, Goliaths stampeded below. The few Huntsmen and Huntresses who had come to their aid were fighting a losing battle. Each Grimm that fell, did so closer and closer to the relative safety of the landing pads.

"I can't believe there are still people inside," she heard Sun mutter behind her. The Faunus boy sat beside two unconscious members of his team, while Neptune kept the guard. Behind them, the two other members of team SSSN were nursing their own wounds. Scarlet was only capable of fighting from a fixed position, while Sage was barely coherent. He had taken a Nevermore feather to the flank, which had narrowly missed his vital areas, but still sheared open his side.

Weiss didn't want to think about what would have happened to them, had she arrived any later.

"Yeah," said Neptune, his voice soft and solemn. "But who's going inside to save them?"

Weiss pretended not to listen, but the words hit her like a truck. She knew who they were still missing. She knew the people who were still missing. Yang did, too, which was the reason why she had rushed back inside before anyone could have stopped her.

She had felt terror when Yang had shown up in the middle of a fight, carrying a wounded Blake and mutilated Alice with her. Yang wouldn't tell her what had happened, and demanded to know where Will and Ancilla were.

Weiss hadn't known. Forced to choose between aiding Yang or protecting Blake -and _Ruby-_ her choice had been clear. There were simply too few combatants to protect the landing pads and too many wounded to take care of. Her skills were instrumental in their defense.

So, Yang had taken off on her own.

Another Griffon swept down from above, its wings folded against its body to greatly improve its speed. Weiss conjured up a glyph that redirected its path, allowing the beast to smash itself into the ground.

Several guns were immediately trained on the beast, tearing it to shreds as it attempted to rise again.

Ren and Nora were too exhausted to fight. The defendants' main firepower came from a small handful of Onyx soldiers and foreign students. In the distance, several Nevermores shed their razor-sharp feathers at an unseen target, ripping through what remained of Beacon's tallest spire. After a few moments, one suddenly lost its left wing, followed by the front section of its head, as if sliced apart by an invisible blade.

Whoever was out there, was putting up one hell of a fight. Weiss secretly hoped that it was Will, holding on to his sanity amidst the Grimm onslaught. If there was anyone who could survive on their own out there, it was him.

Heavens, she _wished_ it were him. Him, or anyone else with the skills and state of mind to survive this hell.

Another Griffon approached their little perch, attracted by the despair of it all. It rushed towards them, eager to claim another kill, when it suddenly flew into a literal storm of bullets, which ripped it to smoking pieces.

Weiss looked up at the source of the gunfire -could it be their reinforcements, their ride out of this mess? The wounded couldn't hold on much longer!

But it wasn't an Atlesian airship that drifted overhead, gunning down the Grimm that came too close and _only_ them.

It was Onyx. And somehow, Weiss knew that they weren't here to help them.

Her suspicions were vindicated when the massive ship deposited a dozen soldiers into the ruins of Beacon, where their dark shapes quickly dispersed, soundly ignoring the feeble cries for help that the survivors directed their way.

"Hey!" Shouted Weiss. "Over here! We need help!"

No response. They dispersed into the night,

The desperation and despair of the survivors reached a fever pitch, and their emotions lured in more Grimm. Again, Weiss was forced to take up arms along with the other students to repel the monsters. She slashed, thrust and carved her way through a pack of Beowolves, while the heavier Ursai were kept at bay with heavier firepower.

"We can't stay here!" Cried Neptune.

Weiss shot a look at Ruby. "We'll have to."

"We're going to die if they keep coming for us! I'm almost out of Dust!"

"Dude, I ran out of Dust a minute ago!" Yelled Sun. "Come on, these guys can't protect themselves!"

After another five minutes of intense fighting, the Grimm onslaught finally stopped. Soon thereafter, as the last bodies vanished, another group of survivors emerged from the ruins. They were led by a _very_ large man clad in black armor, though he had lost his helmet. His short, grey hair which ended in feathers and his large, hooked nose made it hard to mistake his identity.

It was Granit, the big bird-man from Onyx. Following him were Dove, Cardin and Russel, carrying their unconscious teammember with them.

Behind them, another figure emerged from the darkness. A man with messy, black hair and ragged clothes. His eyes were red, like Yang's when she got riled up, and he carried Professor Goodwitch with him.

She was hurt, badly so.

The men quickly ran past them to assume their position at their flank, further protecting them from attacks from the cliff-side. Granit took a look at the five child soldiers who were responsible for keeping the perimeter secure, frowning. He glanced at Weiss, then raised his own weapon and focused on the Grimm, leaving her alone.

But the man carrying Professor Goodwitch didn't.

"Wait!" Said Sun as assumed a fighting stance. "Oh shit, I recognize him! That's-"

Blackwood rolled with his eyes and brushed past Sun, gently placing the unconscious woman in his arms on the ground. Then, he turned his attention to Ruby.

Weiss, who had too much to lose to lower her guard, aimed Myrtenaster at him. "Stop! I don't know why you're here and I don't care. If you touch her, you die!"

He held her gaze for several long moments, before placing a long, red spear on the ground. Weiss recognized it as Pyrrha's. "What are you-"

The Operative reached for Ruby's skirt, so brazen and transparent in his move that it took Weiss by surprise. Before she could even think of attacking, he produced a small object, which he then showed to her.

Ruby's Scroll.

"You killed them!" Sun suddenly shouted at the Operative. "I saw it happen, Alice tried to stop you!"

"What?" Replied a confused Neptune.

"Those two guys from team ABRN, they attacked him, and he killed them!"

Blackwood ignored him. With trembling hands, he started typing a message on the Scroll. He didn't look like a madman, or even a murderer, to Weiss. He just looked weary.

All the things that had been said about him, by Will and Alice…was it all lies? Self-delusions?

"We can't afford a fight," Weiss told him. Once, she would have been shocked to be in the presence of a killer. Now, the thought barely even fazed her. "And you!" She told Blackwood. "What are you even doing?"

Holding the Scroll in bloodied hands like it was made from glass, he showed her the screen.

 _THEY ARE COMING. HER FRIENDS ARE STOLEN. ONYX WILL TAKE ALL BACK_.

It wasn't the most coherent message Weiss had ever read. Still, now that she knew about the existence of the Maidens and the enemy's attempt to take them for their own, it made sense. Onyx was coming for them, to take them back.

But their friends? The only friends that Onyx could take…

Weiss felt a cold pit drop in her stomach. "Ruby's friends are stolen…" She looked at Blackwood. "How do we get them back?"

The next message was frightfully simple

 _WAR.._

And that was all she got out of the silent Operative. He took Weiss' other hand and pressed the Scroll into her palm right before another Onyx airship appeared, virtually out of nowhere, right on top of them.

At least seven dark figures roped down from the craft, surrounding the small group of wounded and defendants in a loose circle. Blades were drawn, weapons were aimed and Neptune yelled, "What the hell are you guys doing! The Grimm are over _there_!"

Weiss looked at Ruby's Scroll again.

Stolen friends…

"They are here for you," she quietly told Blackwood.

The Operative had drawn Pyrrha's spear again - _where was she?-_ and was now scanning his surroundings, eyeing the various Onyx soldiers who had surrounded them.

He wasn't the same man they had fought in the North, that much Weiss knew for certain. But still, as much as she hated to admit it, _nobody_ ranked higher than her loved ones, her team, and she would do _anything_ to keep them safe. "

She was going to loathe herself for this. "They are here for you," Weiss repeated. "If this turns into a fight…it will be a bloodbath."

His eyes met hers, his gaze softened, and it was almost as if she could _see_ him make the decision.

Slowly, Blackwood let go of the spear, which clattered to the ground. The Onyx soldiers carefully moved towards him, not once taking their weapons off of him. When they were close enough, half of them spread out in a loose formation around him while the other half moved to restrain him. What they used to pin his hands behind his back, Weiss couldn't see. But the blue sparks that leapt between its frame and his body couldn't be comfortable.

"What is going on here!" Hissed Neptune, as if scared that speaking too loudly would set the Onyx soldiers off. "Who is that guy, who are _these_ guys and why are they taking him!"

"You're way better off not knowing man," Sun told him. "Seriously, don't ask."

Weiss glanced at the Scroll again. It was directed at her, yes, but not _meant_ for her. He had been looking for Ruby. Was that why he came here? To warn them?

As quickly as they had appeared, the black-clad troopers left again. Along with their prisoner, they filed back into the dropship, not even bothering to target the fresh wave of Grimm that arrived.

Weiss doubted the wounded students would have ended up somewhere pleasant had they been taken along for the ride. Maybe this was for the best.

Maybe.

Then, and only _then_ , did the Atlesian airships show up. The elegant warships drifted closer and closer, providing ample air support while the brightly-armored Atlesian soldiers helped put down the last of the Grimm before other attack could take place.

"Where are we going?" One of the students asked them.

"We're taking you to a safe camp at the edge of the city!" Replied one of the soldiers. "We've got medical facilities there!"

Well, Weiss supposed there it was. Atlas had been virtually _useless,_ Onyx had been _worse_ and the innocent were caught in the middle.

She looked at Ruby again, silently hoping that Onyx wouldn't find Will. They had missed Alice lying in-between the wounded, no doubt too preoccupied by Blackwood, but the implication of his message had been obvious.

War.

The warning stuck with Weiss throughout the rest of the evacuation. Even as the Atlesian ships brought them to the very outskirts of the city, even as Weiss made sure that Blake and Alice got the emergency medical aid they needed, she couldn't shake off the feeling that the Operative had been right.

Weiss looked on as two Atlas medics checked out Blake's stomach wound, cleaned it up and bandaged it. They then moved on to Ruby, who thankfully hadn't sustained any injuries. They couldn't figure out _why_ she wouldn't wake up though, as there weren't even any head injuries

All Weiss cared about was that Ruby wasn't hurt. Maybe she had just overused her Semblance, to the point of exhaustion. The little dolt was just the type to do that.

And speaking of dolts…

Weiss grabbed her Scroll and, after a brief moment of hesitation, called Yang. She hadn't been present during the initial evacuation, but Atlas was still dedicating dozens of ships to get the remaining survivors to safety.

While waiting for Yang to answer, Weiss overheard two Atlas soldiers talking about the situation in the city. According to them, a squad of white-clad soldiers had appeared in the fairgrounds, where most civilians had been stuck when the Grimm hit.

"A small group, seven, maybe eight of them. No Atlas support; they went up against hundreds of Grimm while keeping the civilians safe. That's Huntsman material right there."

"I heard about that," said the second one. "Specialist Schnee thought they were Onyx. Their armour, gear and fighting skills checked out."

"Onyx? Shit man, what'd she do?

"She ignored the General's standing order of apprehending them. She's his second in command, she can do that, right?"

"Right. And then?"

"Then, get this. Schnee dedicated considerable assets to back those guys up. Word is, they saved hundreds of lives, if not thousands."

"At least those creeps are good for something…"

At that point, Weiss honestly didn't know how to feel anymore, which made her all the more grateful when Yang finally answered.

"Yang!" Hissed Weiss. "Where are you? Are you alright?"

" _I'm fine,"_ replied Yang. " _I've got uncle Qrow here, so nothing's going to happen. At least, not to me…"_

Weiss didn't miss how down her teammate sounded. "Atlas finally arrived, Yang. I'm so, so sorry I couldn't help, but I _had_ to keep Ruby and Blake safe and-"

" _Weiss, come on,"_ interrupted Yang. " _I'm grateful for what you did – you got Ruby and Blake out of that hellhole and I won't forget that."_

"Then why do you sound so-"

" _I couldn't find him, Weiss. Qrow and I searched the entire campus. I found Ancilla, but she's in a bad shape. He's gone, Weiss! He's gone and I couldn't help him!"_

"Yang, calm down," Weiss said when she heard the desperation in Yang's voice. "Something came up. I...I think I know where he is."

" _What? Where!"_

"I…I'm sorry, Yang." Weiss took a steadying breath. Yang would hate her for this, but it would be better for them all on the long term. "I have reason to believe that Onyx took him."

It became quiet on the other side.

"Yang?"

" _Why? Why -why would you think that?"_

Weiss sighed. "It would be easier to explain this in person. Where are you now?"

"… _Qrow hailed an airship, but I won't leave Beacon."_

"Yang, the Grimm are arriving in force! Atlas already spotted several Tormentors approaching the ruins, along with a Juggernaut! You _have_ to get out of there!"

Without responding, Yang hung up.

Weiss sighed and put her phone away. "I hope you're alright…"

~0~

* * *

 **3 hours later**

 **Outskirts of Vale**

Operative "Alice" Mantis woke as if her arm was being stabbed by a thousand tiny knives. She tried to move, to see what was going on, but something was wrong. Her arm wouldn't move.

She sighed, then opened her eyes. Her chest hurt like hell; every breath she took made her feel like someone had taken a butcher knife to her ribs. Where was she?

"B-Blake?" She asked. Her throat was dry and caked with blood. Her mouth tasted bitter. "Blake?"

Nobody answered. She was alone.

"Anyone?" She cried, panic creeping into her voice. She had always been alone, but not like this. Something was very wrong here.

Alice looked around, trying to get a feel for her surroundings. She looked to her left, where she saw she had been hooked up to a machine. That could be fixed.

Then she looked to her right, and saw a part of her arm. Tightly bandaged, with an IV running into it, her arm ended at what should have been her elbow.

She stared at it, not willing to believe what she saw. Carefully, she reached out with her other arm and touched what was left.

The resulting pain left her screaming and gasping in her bed, tears springing into her eyes. A whole tirade of curses and profanities escaped her lips when her mind processed what had happened.

The panic grew worse

"Blake!" She cried again. "Blake!"

Her voice echoed in the small, wooden room, and when it faded away, it had an almost mocking edge to it.

Driven by panic and instinct more than anything rational, Alice ripped the IV tubes and other cables out of her body and swung her legs out of the bed.

An instant later, the pain hit her again. It was like a sledgehammer to her abdomen, so intense it made her ears ring and her vision waver.

Nevertheless, Alice tried to push the pain out of her mind and removed her sheet. Her clothes had been removed save for her underwear, and her gut had been stapled up. Her chest too. She looked fucking messed up, even more so than usual.

Back with Onyx, Alice had always viewed maimed veterans as an example of how not to proceed in life. A testimony to their failure, and her own skills. Now, she was maimed too. Mutilated, disfigured in a new way.

She was going to make them pay. Everyone. The entire fucking world.

The pain faded away, faster than she anticipated. Had the idiots dosed her with painkillers? She didn't use them, her body almost processed that shit like an addiction!

Alice was in the process of standing up from her bed when the door got flung open. Dark figures rushed inside, four of them, and they took aim at them.

The panic turned into something much worse. Torn halfway between terror and disbelief, Alice backed away from the door, but there was nowhere to go.

"Blake-" she gasped, before she was hit by three electric weapons at once, after which everything went dark.

~0~

* * *

The city of Vale was fucked. It was no use denying it. While the smaller forms of Grimm had washed over Beacon Academy like a tidal wave, the larger forms had appeared in the middle of the city. A Juggernaut had crawled out of the ground, followed by Tormentors and Nexus forms.

Right in the center of the defending Huntsmen, Huntresses and Atlas soldiers. Without Onyx forces to back them up, the casualties had been extreme.

From her vantage point on the balcony, Yang Xiao Long gazes at the crumbling buildings in the distance with odd detachment. Even in the cover of the night, the damage was clearly visible. That wasn't because the city was still functioning; the electricity was out and most of the streetlights had been broken. No, large sections of Vale were on fire, adding another layer of danger to the death-trap that the city had become.

There wasn't to be anyone still fighting there. What was left of the chain of command had declared the situation as hopeless. Unsalvageable. But here, at the outskirts of the residential district, the civilians and combatants who had been evacuated from the battlefield were relatively safe. For them, the storm had passed. The onslaught was over. Ruby, Blake and Weiss were all safe. Bloodied, exhausted and battered, but alive.

Yet she would have given anything to dive back into the fray and keep fighting, if it meant she could find Will. Uncle Qrow had all but forced her to leave Beacon's grounds and evacuate with him. They'd been the last fighters to leave; pretty much everybody had already evacuated by the time their ship took off.

Including that masked Faunus bastard who had stabbed Blake and maimed Alice. Yang swore, if she got her hands on him, she'd rip off his-

"Yang?" Ancilla asked from inside the room. "Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"Can't sleep," replied Yang. "I can only stave off the images as long as I'm concentrating."

"But you need your rest."

Yang smiled. At least things weren't all bad. Ancilla knew that Will was still alive and kicking. With her at her side, it was only a matter of time before they found him. They'd pluck him away from whatever hole he was currently hiding in, and then she would _never_ let him go again

As an unspoken rule, neither Yang nor Ancilla talked about what had happened prior to the Grimm's arrival at Beacon. It was something they could work out in the future, maybe with professional help.

Yes _,_ Yang told herself. It was nothing they couldn't overcome. "You know…dad was supposed to come over for the finals. He'd be late, but he'd be there."

"Your father?"

"Yup." Yang pulled herself away from the sight of the burning city and returned to the living room. "My plan? Win the Tournament, get the guy, get the girl, show dad that life was good." She sighed wistfully, dropping down on a sleeping bag next to Ancilla's. A collection of impromptu bedrolls and sleeping bags had been arrayed along the floor, though this particular house didn't have a lot of people right now.

Most of them were being picked up by their loved ones from outside of the Kingdom, anyways.

Ancilla remained quiet, staring down at her hands. Yang was pretty sure they scrubbed off most of the blood. "I didn't mean for you to get hurt…"

Yang shrugged. "It happened. No use moping about it."

Ancilla's large, irregular eyes met hers. "The worst has yet to come. Do you _remember_ the things your mind made you see?"

"No," Yang flatly said. "And I don't want to, either."

"That's exactly it. Even my mind won't process it all." Ancilla paused, a hint of purple flashing through her eyes. When she next blinked though, it was gone. "I think. And I've had a long time. But you will remember. And when you do, you will feel like taking your own life. But you mustn't!"

With a sigh, Yang ran a hand through Ancilla's long hair. "You both have such a way with words…"

"But don't worry!" Ancilla then hasted to say. "Will and I both lived through it! We'll help you cope!"

If Yang remembered correctly, both Will as Ancilla made several attempts to take their own lives. It might be for the best to keep that to herself, though. "I ehm…thanks. I think we'll be fine."

A dark shadow crossed the balcony. Odd, since the only light that could produce such a shadow was mounted on the top of the building, to signal passing airships.

Yang didn't think anything of it though. She was tired and hungry, and not in any condition to watch for enemy movement.

And that turned out to be a fatal mistake.

The shelter -built to withstand all sorts of Grimm attacks- exploded inwards from multiple directions, showering the two girls with razor-sharp shrapnel and debris.

Ancilla screamed, and Yang remembered the promise she had made.

 _Better to be dead, than to let Onyx take you._

Yang donned Ember Celica and tried to return fire on the black-clad soldiers who came at them from multiple directions, but they closed the distance before she could score more than a few hits and forced her to engage them in close quarters combat.

 _Fine by me_ , Yang thought, and moved intercept them.

Things didn't work out that way. Students at Beacon Academy had trained for four years to attain the level of skill that allowed them to pass the rigorous trials set in their way. Yang had been training for longer than that, spending endless hours honing her skills, growing accustomed to her Semblance. When it came to knocking heads, she was the toughest, the fastest, the _best_.

But these guys had been training for most of their lives, their skills forged by trials of fire and blood. Even worse; they hadn't spent all day fighting.

Yang unleashed a series of punches at soldier, and he stepped back, avoiding all of her blows. She immediately followed up with a snap-kick at his chest, striking without an instant of warning and he evaded to one side.

 _He's fast!_

She hadn't even finished the thought when the soldier stepped around to her other side, blindsiding her. She tried to follow, but another soldier struck her from her flank, delivering a crushing blow to her leg.

Yang nearly collapsed, but managed to roll with the blow and narrowly managed to avoid getting a boot straight to the face. She struck the offending soldier with a multitude of blows, but he was just as fast as she was, and perfectly evaded and blocked her punches.

She ducked low and attempted to sweep his legs from underneath his body, but he countered with a kick of his own and followed up with a quick left-right punch combo aimed at her face. Half the combo connected and Yang managed to duck and slip underneath his follow-up strike.

Ancilla screamed, people shouted and Yang spun to face the bastard who tried to lay his hands on the girl. She made use of the considerable strength her Semblance had allowed her to store to force herself past one of the Onyx troopers and threw herself at the one who tried to hurt her.

He was ready for her, and ducked underneath her blow, before slamming his knee against her kidneys. Her Aura absorbed most of the blow, but considering these guys were as strong as she was, the blow still winded her.

There were simply too many. One of these sons of bitches would be difficult, but _four_? Yang knew the only way to win this was to hold out as long as she could, wait for reinforcements.

But they didn't give her that chance. One of the soldiers deflected and slipped past her enraged strikes until he blocked a jab straight on, performed a wrist-lock and pinned her arm against his. He exerted nearly enough pressure to snap her bones, but he held off just short of actually doing so, instead wailing on her face and throat with three overhead strikes.

The last one depleted her Aura, and the force of its impact nearly made her retch. As she wheezed and coughed, the soldier slammed his knee against her spine and threw her over his hips to the ground, shattering the floor.

"Stay down!" He barked at her.

Yang coughed out some blood. "Ancilla, run! G-get out of here!"

Either the girl didn't hear her, or chose to ignore her. She picked up a piece of rock from the ruined floor and, as one of the soldier tried to haul her in the air by her hair, slammed it against his head.

The blow failed to even damage his visor. The soldier struck Ancilla in retaliation, knocking her to the ground again.

"Don't you touch her!" Screamed Yang. "Don't you fucking touch her!"

Fueled by rage more than anything else, Yang allowed the energy that her Semblance had stored to explode out of her body -literally. A torrent of fire and shockwaves rippled through the house, blowing out windows, the ceiling and what remained of the wall.

She and the lead Onyx soldier met each other head-on, while the others repositioned. Trailing fire, Yang struck him, and was struck in turn. Without her Aura protecting her, she very nearly blacked out, but her rage won out. She struggled to her feet and tapped into her last reserves of energy, intent on finishing off the bastard with one good hit.

It all culminated in Yang launching herself at her enemy, who intercepted her before she could realize it. She felt his hand planted on her hip and on her neck, and the next moment she felt herself slam into the semi-collapsed portion of the building with so much force, so much violence, that everything seemed to shatter and break, both the building as her own body.

She heard Ancilla scream her name, the soldiers barking orders to each other. The ceiling collapsed, half burying her beneath hundreds of kilos of debris.

Yang blacked out. Unfortunately for her, she didn't _stay_ blacked out.

For a long time, Yang simply lay there, bleeding, stuck between the collapsed rubble and the floor. She was unable to lose consciousness, unable to move, even unable to die. She felt more pain than she could have ever anticipated, more than she had ever felt in her life.

She tried to move, tried to at least escape from the debris that had pinned her down, but she couldn't. It took all of the effort in her body to try, and in the end the pain was too much anyway.

Her back was the worst. A slow, steady pain that stopped in her midsection. It built in intensity with every passing second, until the agony became so bad that she couldn't focus anymore. She could barely form the thoughts required to understand what was going on in her surroundings.

Yang did, however, begin to focus on one thing in particular. After what felt like hours, she saw a dark figure emerging from the darkness, slowly walking towards her. Through her blurred vision, she couldn't even make out his face, only that it was impossibly pale.

She felt her heart jump.

"Wi…Will?" She weakly groaned. The mere act of talking was excruciating, but that didn't matter now. If it was him, everything would be alright "P-please…"

"Not exactly," growled the voice, and Yang froze. The man's face -it wasn't pale at al. It was a mask. A Grimm mask.

He was that Faunus. Blake's former partner.

Yang felt her anger flare to life, even though there was nothing left with which to burn. Nothing to fuel her rage, her hatred. She was completely and utterly spent. She tried to use her legs to push herself further up, away from him. Zero response.

Completely at his mercy.

"Looks like she abandoned you too," the Faunus smugly told her.

"Fuck...you…" Yang growled at him.

He smiled. Or grimaced. Whatever. He slowly drew his blade, then started _cutting_. He drew the edge of his sword along her side, neatly parting the skin and slicing through the flesh underneath. He slowly drew his sword from her flank towards her ribs, beads of blood dropping to the ground.

Yang glared at him, unwilling to give him the satisfaction of hearing her scream. Whether she actually managed to bite back her cries or not, she didn't know. Her vision wavered, and the pain threatened to overwhelm her.

"To pair her up with a human _whore_ like you…"

He brought his boot down on Yang's stomach, _hard_.

Yang grunted and groaned, feeling like he had just stabbed her like he had stabbed Blake. The worst thing? She still couldn't feel her legs. She had no sensation below her middle.

"But after this, she'll see…"

He brought his sword down towards her face. Yang closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable torture to wash over her again.

It never came.

~0~

* * *

With one smooth gesture, Weiss drew Myrtenaster and summoned a Glyph in-between her teammate and the piece of thrash standing above her. The sudden manifestation of her Semblance knocked the red sword away from her friend, and the White Fang member whirled around in anger.

It was a tall man, with red and brown hair that spiked backwards. He wore a Grimm mask that covered the upper half of his face. Two black horns protruded from the front of his head, curving backwards along with his hair. His long-sleeved trench coat was black and decorated with red symbols.

It became instantly clear that he was not a mere pawn of the enemy. This Faunus had to be one of their leaders -and he looked vaguely familiar at that.

"You will not harm a hair on her head!" Shouted Weiss, brandishing her rapier.

The man's lips contorted into a savage grin. "A Schnee…" He slowly said, before wiping Yang's blood from his blade. The metal seemed to glow with faint light. "This is going to be fun…"

"Two Schnees, actually," Weiss bit back, feeling the same savage delight on the inside as this animal displayed. "Frost! In here!"

A moment later, Frost Schnee wandered around the corner, holding a datapad in his right hand. "…took the Catalyst as well, it seems."

The White Fang member huffed. His grin turned into a hateful grimace just like that and he raised his black sheath -which turned out to be a gun of all things- before unloading two shots at Frost and making a run for it.

The Onyx soldier allowed the first shot to splash harmlessly across his Aura and returned fire with his own rifle. "Granit, it's Taurus! Take him down!"

Granit came from around the corner too, took one look at Yang and decided that his particular set of skills would be more useful for tracking down the son of a bitch who did that to her.

"Yang!" Weiss cried out, kneeling down next to her teammate. "Yang, can you hear me?"

Yang's head lolled about, her eyes unfocused. She'd lost consciousness.

And with good reason. Weiss scowled when she saw just how badly-hurt Yang was. Half her body was pinned underneath rubble, and it looked like she wasn't going to get out of there soon. Her right arm was pinned in an unnatural position, to boot. It looked real ugly.

Weiss felt her stomach tighten when she saw that. How long had she been stuck here? What happened to her? "Yang…hold on Yang, you'll be fine!" She whirled around, furious that those Atlesian soldiers Frost and her alerted were taking so long. "I need a medic! Someone, help!"

They finally reached her a few minutes after Frost and Granit went off chasing that White Fang bastard. Two medics, clad in red-white armor, took to slowly checking Yang's vital signs and injuries, while the other soldiers made sure the area was really clear.

After that, they asked Weiss to leave. They _insisted_ that she left.

Weiss insisted otherwise. "If you had done your jobs better, my friend would still be alright! The enemy already infiltrated your group to try and kill one of my teammates before, it will _not_ happen again!"

The two medics exchanged a look. Perhaps they would have insisted that she took her leave at gunpoint, had the commotion not started at the back of the building.

"Don't "secure perimeter" me! That's my daughter!"

Weiss looked over her shoulder and saw a tall, blonde man rushing towards them, with a trio of Atlesian soldiers hastily rushing after him. It would be impossible to mistake him for anyone but Yang's father.

"Yang!" He cried, kneeling down next to his daughter. "I´m going to take you home, baby-girl…"

Weiss couldn't bear watch them. The feelings of outrage quickly made way to shock. Shock, yes…and something worse.

Envy.

"We're going to have to lift this off her," the medics told him, accepting his presence without arguing now.

The father stood up, then moved to see if he could shift the heavy stones that pinned Yang to the ground. Together with the other Atlesian soldiers, they started pushing and heaving against the debris.

They quickly stopped when Yang cried out in pain.

"Yang!" Yelled her father, before lowering the piece of debris he had just lifted off her. "We're hurting her!"

Weiss had never before felt so powerless, so useless. She couldn't even use her Semblance, as the slightest lapse in her concentration could end up hurting Yang even more.

Where was Frost? Where was _Blake_?

"We can't stay here," said one of the medics. "We need to get her to a proper hospital."

"Come on sweetie, grit and bear! You can do this! Count to three. One…two…"

On two, Yang's father started lifting the piece of debris again. Yang, seemingly stuck between consciousness and unconsciousness, moaned and whimpered as they slowly managed to remove the debris, revealing the horrific damage done to her body.

The rubble had all but crushed the bone down her upper arm, maybe even all the way down to her hand. There was blood, too. Most of it came from the numerous gashes across her torso and sides.

That White Fang psycho, no doubt.

"Gods…" Whispered her father.

"…my legs…" muttered Yang. She was shaking now.

"What?"

Her skin looked paler than ever before. "Can't…can't feel…"

"You're going to be fine, sweetie," her father told her, though his expression told a completely different story. "Just stay with me…just stay awake, alright?"

"Shit, she's going into shock," one of the medics sharply said. "We need to move her, now!"

In the chaotic rush to get Yang to a medical facility before her condition could get any worse, Weiss was eventually joined by Frost. He didn't say a word, not even as Yang's father shot the two of them a concerned look, but Weiss didn't care about that. She was struggling to keep her emotions down, to keep from rushing after the paramedics who took Yang to the intensive care, to keep from breaking down at the thought that one of her closest friends might not make it through the night.

A single thought dominated all the others. Why? Why had Onyx hurt her like this? And why that White Fang bastard come after _her_ specifically?

It was only later, when Yang's father started talking to her in the crowded waiting room, that Weiss snapped out of her thoughts.

"You're Weiss Schnee, right?" he asked her.

Weiss glanced at the man. He looked as goofy as Ruby's stories had made him sound, with his messy hair and weird facial hair. He did have an impressive tattoo on his right arm though, and his similarity to Yang was hard to miss - down to the blonde hair and the small strands that stuck out of the top, even.

But as he stood there now, with wet eyes and torn clothes, there was nothing goofy about him.

"That's right," Weiss quietly replied.

"Yeah…Ruby writes about you all the time. She uh…likes you a lot." He cleared his throat, then covered his mouth his hand for a moment. "You know, you've got a pretty nasty cut there."

"A cut?" Weiss asked, surprised.

"It's ehm…right there, on your shoulder. And one on your arm, the other one."

Weiss checked herself for injuries and found that, much to her surprise, she had taken quite a few hits during Beacons fall. The adrenaline and tension must have staved off the pain.

Still, now that she knew the injuries were there, she was starting to feel the smart. "I didn't notice those. Things were…pretty hectic."

The father sighed. "I bet. If only we got there sooner…look, do you know what happened there? Those weren't Grimm, no way a couple of monster could keep my daughter down like that!"

"No," muttered Weiss. There was the concern again. The anxiety of a loving father. There was no way _her_ father would ever get this concerned about any of his children. "They wouldn't."

She looked at Frost, who kept himself occupied by reading a pamphlet on the wall. He didn't even _look_ bothered by all of this.

"I don't know for sure. My…associate and I were making our way towards her when it happened. We chased off a White Fang member who tried to hurt her when she was down, but…I don't know."

"Those damned terrorists…" growled Yang's father. "What did they try to gain from attacking Beacon? It doesn't make any sense!"

Weiss supposed that, if one was unaware of everything that had happened as of lately, the attack on Beacon wouldn't any sense, no. "I don't think it was just the White Fang. I-"

"Hey!" The man suddenly snapped, stepping towards the room where the medics had brought Yang. "Where are you taking her?"

"What?" Weiss blurted out, hastily following the man. "What do you mean-?"

Yang's father proceeded to literally kick the door open. One of the doctors met him halfway, telling him that he shouldn't be there, but he didn't listen. "Where are you taking my daughter?" He demanded.

Weiss looked underneath his arm. Yang was still in the room where they had taken her, still unconscious, still with her mangled arm.

"We're taking her for emergency surgery," said one of the doctor, a woman. "They're going to do their best to save her arm."

"Saver her arm-? You mean, you mean…what's wrong with it?"

Weiss barely registered the doctor's explanation about crush injuries and toxic build-up. She could only stare at her teammate, who had seemed so tough, so unbreakable. To see her like she was now…it was more than she could take.

She quietly excused herself and took her leave, feeling her eyes prickle with heat.

"Doesn't look good, does it?"

"Shut up," Weiss bit at Frost, who still hadn't moved an inch from where he was standing. "Just shut up. You, Onyx and all of you freaks can all go to hell for all I care!"

She tried to brush past him, but his hand snatched out and grabbed a hold of her wrist.

"Let me go!" Demanded Weiss.

"Get real!" Frost hissed at her. "You lost the battle, but the war goes on! If you refuse to acknowledge that, _everyone_ you know and love will die. Blake, and especially _Ruby Rose."_

Weiss tried to pull her hand free, but his damned mechanical arm was like a vice. "That's…you… what do you mean, especially Ruby?"

He gestured with his head at one of the hallways. "Come see, and I'll explain."

Weiss gritted her teeth and bit back a venomous remark. With Beacon gone, she had nowhere to go, no one else to turn to. She had nothing to lose. "Fine."

He took her down a series of crowded hallways, expertly weaving past the overworked nurses and doctors trying to keep their patients from slipping into the void. "We didn't find Adam Taurus. They must have extracted him. We did find someone though. And I've got good news and bad news."

"I could seriously use some good news," sighed Weiss.

Frost led her to a door in the middle of the hallway. The door was slightly ajar, and Weiss could already hear the steady beeping of monitoring equipment.

She shot Frost a suspicious look, before carefully entering the room. It was a small, pristine-clean room with white walls and a single, large window. A small figure lay in a hospital bed that was way too large for her petite frame, propped up on pillows and tucked away beneath several thick layers of blankets.

"Ruby!" Gasped Weiss. It was as if the oppressive air of the overworked hospital disappeared in an instant, leaving behind only a serene sensation of calmness

Her partner, of course didn't respond. Her eyes were shut tight, and she looked so…so peaceful.

"Oh you stupid, _stupid_ dolt! Why? Why did you have to go up there by yourself?" Weiss whispered, burying her face in Ruby's warm neck.

A large, black bird swept down from the sky and landed at the window. It cocked its head, its large, beady eyes focused on the girl in the bed.

"Oh, shoo you!" Weiss cried, moving to scare the bird off and shut the window.

"You should leave it," Frost told her. "Just leave it alone. It can't do anything."

Weiss rolled with her eyes and returned to Ruby's side, vowing never ever to leave her again. "Ruby…I'm so glad she's okay. After what happened to Blake…and Yang…I…I…"

"The Scroll," Frost told her, his voice harsh. "You know what you must do."

The Scroll Blackwood had given her. Weiss retrieved it from her pocket, then hesitated. "If I give it to her, it will only lead her to more conflict. More violence and death."

"Onyx took your friends. Yang nearly died trying to protect them. You think Ruby doesn't want to go after them?"

"That-"

"And it will only get worse," Frost continued without mercy. "You know what the enemy is capable of. They won't rest until they get what they want…and they will want Ruby dead, too."

"Why?" Snapped Weiss. "Why her? What changed!"

"Her eyes, Weiss."

"Yes? What about them!" She challenged him. "They're silver, so what!"

"They're silver. That means _everything_. I told you about the Maidens, didn't I? What made them special? Everybody wants them, the enemy as well as Onyx. Now imagine another group just like them. A group of warriors with special abilities, akin to the Maidens. Onyx wants them, too, but the enemy wants them _dead_."

"Special abilities…" Muttered Weiss. "Do you mean…?"

"How do you think she survived the rooftop of Beacon's tower exploding? Crippling the Dragon Grimm like that?"

But Weiss didn't want to hear it. "Why are you so eager to get her back into the fight? What could she possibly do that others couldn't?"

"Not her, Weiss. Not Ruby."

Weiss faltered. "What?"

"Ruby will seek out Onyx whether you want her to, or not. The question is…will you help her?"

"Help her?" Weiss softly said. She reached out and touched Ruby's cheek. If only she could stay like this, without having to worry about the world. Still, she knew that Frost was right. And she hated him for it. "How could I? I don't understand Remnant. Not like she does…not like you do. Ruby does…I'd only get in her way."

"As you are now? Definitely."

Weiss sighed. "Thanks for the moral support…"

"I mean it literally. The bad news I was talking about? You don't need to be jealous of Taiyang Xiao Long any longer. Daddy Schnee is hightailing it over here as fast as he can, to take his little angel back to Atlas."

Weiss snorted. "If my father thinks I will leave my friends to come with him, he has clearly lost his mind."

"You know him. He won't take no for an answer."

"Then he will have to come for me himself." Weiss stood up, then turned towards Frost again. She had nowhere else to go. She'd be damned before returning to her gilded cage. "Take me with you."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

Weiss straightened her spine, hoping that the display of confidence would aid her cause. "You heard me. I'm useless to Ruby as I am now. If she is to set…all of this…straight again…she needs allies who know how this world works. And I don't. So…teach me."

"Teach you?"

"Show me the world as you see it. Teach me how Remnant really works…please."

He stared at her for several long moments. "What makes you think I want you with me?"

"Because you hate me," Weiss immediately replied. "I know you do. You can't stand me. You think I'm privileged. That I'm spoiled, naïve and entitled. And maybe I am, compared to you. _But_ …" She took a steadying breath. There was no going back now. She had vowed that she would never return to how things were. "Take me with you, and you get the chance to fix that. You can see me ruined by the reality. You can see the experience break me."

Frost smiled. "Sounds like you've imagined the perfect agreement."

"It's not perfect. Not yet. But I will be leagues better than who I am now."

"Well then." Frost pulled out a combat knife from his boot and thrust it into her hands, handle first. "I would ask you to prove it, but you'll get plenty of chances to do so."

Weiss took it. "I'm sure I will."

~0~

* * *

 **[LOCATION REDACTED\\]**

Two parts to a whole. A mean to an end.

He feels the impulse, followed by a steady stream of feedback. The people of Remnant, those of and beyond it, and every single possibility caused by their decisions, conscious or not.

The Founder sees it. Sees it all. Focus on one individual and all the other fade away. The fragments fade with them. What remains, he calls the future. If it is acceptable, he takes steps to preserve it.

Possibilities strike him in a jumble of images, and he feels pain when one possibility becomes an outcome.

The decision is made. Full force deployment to Beacon Academy results in the end of the Cursed Man's Cycle. This is unacceptable.

Clandestine infiltration results in the fall of Atlas. This is unacceptable.

The Founder sees both outcomes, and lets them go. The third one, a clandestine force meant to exfiltrate individuals, to preserve them, results in the Fall of Beacon. People die. The Cursed Man lives on.

This is acceptable.

Time passes. One individual comes into full focus. Every single possible outcome of that person's life unravels before the Founder and it hurts. It hurts like it has for thousands of years. He is getting slower. He perseveres.

Another one with Silver Eyes. He sends for a team to bring her to him and she dies. This is unacceptable. He calls for an entire army to bring her to him and the pain intensifies and the future blurs and _she_ is watching him she is always watching him but she is closer than ever to breaking him and he does not let her-

" _Stop. Breathe."_

The Founder listens. Time passes.

He calls for an army to bring her to him and he sees Remnant consumed in flames. This is unacceptable.

The Founder sees the events as they unravel. Sometimes, the future is dark. Mostly because it ends there. Sometimes because another power interferes with his.

 _I have made more mistakes than any man, woman and child on this planet._

He sees the path and follows it.

 _But perhaps victory is in the simpler things that you've long forgotten—things that require a smaller, more honest soul._

The girl must hate him. Him and the Association.

The Founder gives the order.

 _That is why I hope your Onyx Association will never have to interfere with my Inner Circle._

" _I am sorry."_

Time passes.

The possibilities change. The girl awakens the latent fire within her-

 _You…have Silver Eyes._

 _-_ and the man will mock the one who failed by saying-

 _I've half the mind to thank the little girl that bested you._

The future blurs again.

 _Do you find these tricks necessary?_

She speaks to him directly now. The image dissolves.

The General will enter soon. He will say-

 _We found the Catalyst. She, the Operatives and the Candidates have been stored._

And the girl with the Silver Eyes hates him now. The girl hates him now. Him and them. She must hate him, for peace and sanity. She must bring an army to bear against him, but only if she lives.

" _Dear Founder…have you not gone too far?"_

The Founder does not recall who told him that. He sees no reason to feel concerned. The past is his failure. The future, his burden.

There will be more atrocities. More war. More suffering. And in the end, perhaps they will even pay off.

~0~

* * *

 **AN: and so ends the Agony of Freedom. I will conclude this story in the third part, because I don't want to end up with another 50+ chapter story if I can't finish it in one go.**

 **Now, the story will continue in part three: "Peace Through War", wherein Ruby Rose seeks to gather an army to take back what was taken from her, while everybody else tries to recover from the most devastating loss suffered in history.**

 **I want to thank everybody who stayed with this series throughout its long, long run-time. Until the next part!**


End file.
